JOURNELS OF MAJOR ROBERT ROGERS

109485

JOURNALS OF
JMajor ROBERT ROGERS

tyronmr campaigning in tke French and Indian Wars by
1$i organizer and commander of "ROGERS' RANQERS.
^ Reprinted from the original edition of 1765,

/ Introduction by Howard H Pfckham

AJE6 $i:50

GDftlHTH

MAJOR ROBERT ROGERS' JOURNALS

The drama of Rogers" Bangers has become a byword
among Americans. The experience of this small band of
volunteer Colonial fighters in the long and savagely
fought French and Indian War has captured the imag-
ination of succeeding generations. The theory and tech-
nique of "Indian fighting," detailed by Rogers in his
Journals, is now so widely accepted that "Ranger** com-
panies are an integral part of modern military tactics.

Despite constant reference to the Journals by histori-
ans and scholars, there has not been a printing available
for almost eighty years. This new edition is the first
corrected yet faithful republication since its original Lon-
don appearance in 1765.

JOURNALS
OF

Major ROBERT ROGERS

Reprinted from the original edition of 1765.
Introduction by Howard H. Peckham

CONSULTING EDITOR: HENEY BAMFOBD PABKES

CORINTH BOOKS
NEW YORK

HOWARD H. FECKHAM is director of the William L.
Clements Library of early Americana and Professor of
American History at the University of Michigan. He has
edited and written a number of books among 'them Pontiac
and the Indian Uprising, The War for Independence,
George Croghans Journal of His Trip to Detroit in 1767,
and Captured by Indians.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 61-8151

Copyright 1961 Corinth Books Inc.

THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE SERIES

Published by Corinth Books Inc.
32 West Eighth Street, New York 11, N. Y.

Distributed by The Citadel Press
222 Park Avenue South, New York 3, N. Y.

Printed in the US A.
NOBLE OFFSET PRINTERS, ING.

INTRODUCTION

Robert Rogers is a type that appears in every war: the
restless, unsuccessful civilian who finds himself within the
military discipline and emerges as a heroic leader, only to
kpse into a drifting semi-failure again when peace is
restored. Hough-cut or refined, he is a type that seems
permanently maladjusted to normal civilian pursuits such
as routine employment; family responsibility, finamofaT
solvency, civic duty, etc. Yet in a local disaster or a na-
tional war he reveals unsuspected clearheadedness, daring;
endurance, and devotion, although these traits may be
accompanied by a monumental impatience with paper
reporting, fmannml regulations, or the ideas of others, as
though they were a troublesome intrusion from the worfc-a-
day world he had joyously abandoned.

But for the French and Indian War, Robert Rogers
might have remained an obscure, uneducated frontiersman
of New Hamshire, chained to some stony acres and known
locally only f or his instability and athletic prowess. War-
fare, however, brought out his particular genius; it pro-
vided him with his opportunity for fame and a military
reputation he richly deserved.

Rogers was born on November 18, 1731, in north-
eastern A^^-ssftcnusfiTjT'^ to dcotcn iDarents rrom yi^ynrn^rr^
Ireland. When he was eight his family took up land in

Vi INTRODUCTION

the isakted Great Meadow across the Merrimack River in
southern New Hampshire. He was at an impressionable
age when the opening of King George's War, 1744, un-
leashed hostile Indians from the St Lawrence on the
English settlements. The Rogers family fled into the town
of Rumford. In 1746 young Robert served with the militia
but met no enemy.

In 1752 Robert acquired a small farm of his own
but put a tenant on it and joined a surveyor's party laying
out a road to the Connecticut River. He became adept in
woodcraft and Indian lore. Standing six feet in height-
a very tall man for those times-well muscled and excel-
ling in all feats of strength, he was remarkably able to take
care of himself in the wilderness.

Outbreak of the French and Indian war brought a call
from New Hampshire early in 1755 for volunteers to drive
the French from Grown Point The unemployed Rogers
recruited more than fifty men and was made a captain;
John Stark was his lieutenant At age 23 he was on his
way. His Journals, herewith reprinted, relate his cam-
paigns, scouting expeditions, and astonishing services to
the Tfatgfah forces. The book opens in September 1755
when he was at Lake George and runs through January
1761, after he had received the surrender of Detroit to
Great Britain. It includes several pieces of correspondence.
Undoubtedly the high point of interest is his raid on the
Indian village of St Francis and his harrowing flight
Rogers' distinctive contribution to military tactics was his
organization of a corps of skirmishers, scouts, and woods-
men called Rangers. The inadequacy of British regiments
for wilderness fighting was obvious to all but the most
buHheaded British officers, and Rogers' created a striking
force and intelligence eye that General Amherst was

INTRODUCTION Vil

quick to recognize as invaluable in this theater of war.
Aristocrat though he was, Amherst admired the intrepid
major and upheld him against the jealousies of lesser
officers who were too painfully conscious of being "gende-

Rogers was intelligent enough not only to lead his
Rangers with incredible success on dangerous missions,
but to write a manual for their training, included in the
Journals. If the British military mind had allowed regulars
to be exercised in Ranger tactics, they might easily have
crushed the American Revolution later; instead the Ameri-
cans absorbed the lessons of Rogers' experience and fielded
an army that perplexed the orthodox British.

Relaxation of the pressures of war was postponed for
awhile by detachment of Rogers to South Carolina to face
a Cherokee uprising in 1761, and then to relieve Detroit
in 1763 from Pontiac's siege. Meanwhile, as an undoubted
hero known on two continents, he had married a minister's
daughter bade in New Hampshire. After the treaty of
peace he found himself in debt from old unsettled ac-
counts and without rank in the regular army. He decided
in 1765 to go to London "to get what ever may offer."
While there he wrote-certainly assisted by a secretary,
a Princeton graduate, whom he had taken aloiig-and
published two bodes. First to appear was die Journals.
It was well received but was not as popular as his Concise
Account of N#rth America, because it told the English
about the rich interior country now opened to them. To-
day judgment is reversed, and the Journals is considered
the more valuable reference. Both books were designed
to obtain some Crown appointment for Rogers in the
West, and they succeeded* He was named commandant
of Fort Michilimackinac (Mackinaw City, Michigan),

viii INTHCM>UCTION

superintendent of neighboring Indians, and it was sug-
gested to General Thomas Cage that he be commissioned
a captain in the 60th Regiment.

The remote post and an administrative position proved
his undoing. Hamstrung by restrictions from his suspi-
cious superiors, beset by quarreling subordinates, extra-
vagant in gifts to the Indians, injudicious in licensing
traders, disappointed in a search for the northwest pas-
sage, never commissioned as a captain, and falling out
with his secretary, Rogers found himself suddenly arrested
in December 1767 for treason! The vague case collapsed
when he was tried in Montreal, but Rogers' reputation was
ruined and he was heavily in debt. He tried England again
in 1769 to get bis garbled accounts settled. Obtaining part
of his money, he was forced to turn it over to creditors.
One petition followed another: to recover property losses,
to get his army commission, to head a new colonial gov-
ernment in the West; to lead an expedition, to obtain a
grant of land. Failing and floundering, he was thrown into
debtors prison in 1772. He tried to sue General Cage in
1774 as the author of all his troubles. A new bankruptcy
law opened the prison door for him and he finally secured
his retired pay as a major. In 1775 he sailed for home
and his neglected family.

Hie Revolution was on, and as a pensioned British
officer Rogers was suspect. He made a secret application
to Congress for a commission, but was rejected and even
thought to be a spy. His wife cast him out He then fled
to the British lines and was commissioned a lieutenant
colonel to raise a battalion, known as the Queen's Rangers,
His name still earned magic. After some little military
success, he was nevertheless replaced in 1777 by a regular
officer, at the insistence of other regular pfficers. He con-
tinued to recruit Tories for military service, but by 1779

INTCQDUCTTON' IX

was drinking heavily. In 1782 he returned to England and
soon was back in debtor's prison intennittendy, his pen-
sion frequently assigned to creditors. He died in miserable
exile on May 18, 1705.

In the new republic Rogers was forgotten until Francis
Parkman retold the exploits of Rogers' Rangers in his
popular Montcdm and Wolfe, 1884. He was written about
for boys. In 1935 he was given generous space in the
Dictionary of American Biography. Kenneth Roberts made
him the hem of a historical novel, Northwest Passage,
1937. The definitive biography is by John R. Cuneo,
Robert Rogers of the Rangers, 1959. Meanwhile, collectors
had sought copies of his works and made them recognized
as rare books. Because it is an authentic narrative of per-
sonal experience, the Journals is a valued and respected
source for the French and Indian War.

HOWABD H. PECTHAM
WOUam L. Clements Library
The University of Michigan

JOURNALS

O F

Major ROBERT ROGERS :

CONTAINING

An Account of the fcvcral Excurfions he made
under the Generals who commanded upon
the Continent of NORTH AMERICA, daring
the late War.

From which may by colleded

The raoft material Circumftances of every Cam-
paign upon thatContincnt, from the Commence-
ment to the Conclufion of the War.

L O N D O Ni

Printed for the A,U T H O R,

And fold by J. MILI.AN, Bookfellcr, near WhitchalL

MDCCLXV.

[Hi]

INTRODUCTION,

f would be offering an affront to the
public should I pretend to have no
private views in publishing the fol-
lowing JOURNALS; but they will excuse
me if I leave them to conjecture what
my particular views are and claim the merit of
impartially relating matters of fact without disguise
or equivocation. Most of those which relate to myself
can at present be attested by living witnesses.

And should the troubles in America be renewed
and the savages repeat those scenes of barbarity they
so often have acted on the British subjects, which
there is great reason to believe will happen, I flatter
myself that such as are immediately concerned may
reap some advantage from these pages.

Should any one take offense at what they may
here meet with, before they venture upon exhibiting
a charge, they are desired in favour to themselves to
consider that I am in a situation where they cannot
attack me to their own advantage; that it is the
soldier not the scholar that writes; and that many
things here were written not with silence and leisure

[iv]

but in forests, on rocks and mountains, amidst the
hurries, disorders, and noise of war, and under that
depression of spirits which is the natural consequence
of exhausting fatigue. This was my situation when
the following journals or accounts were transmitted
to the generals and commanders I acted under, which
I am not now at liberty to correct except in some
very gross and palpable errors.

It would perhaps gratify the curious to have a
particular account of my life preceding the war; but
tho* I could easily indulge them herein, without any
dishonour to myself, yet I beg they will be content
with my relating only such drcumstances and oc-
currences as led me to a knowledge of many parts of
the country and tended in some measure to qualify
me for the service I have since been employed in.
Such in particular was the situation of the place in
which I received my early education, a frontier town
in the province of New Hampshire, where I could
hardly avoid obtaining some knowledge of the man-
ners* customs, and language of the Indians as many
of them resided in the neighbourhood and daily
convened and dealt with the English.

Between the years 174S and 1755 my manner of
life was such as led me to a general -acquaintance
both with the British and French settlements in
North America and especially with the uncultivated
wilderness, the mountains, valleys, rivers, lakes, and
several passes that lay between and contiguous to
the said settlements. Nor did I content myself with
the accounts I received from Indians or the infor-
mation of hunters but travelled over large tracts
of the country myself, which tended not more to
gratify my curiosity than to inure me to hardships

and, without vanity I may say, to qualify me for the
very service I have since been employed in.

About this time the proceedings of the French
in America were such as excited the jealousy of the
English especially in New York and New England;
and as Crown Point was the place from which for
many years the Indians in the French interest had
been fitted out against our settlements on the fron-
tiers, a design was formed in the beginning of 1755
to dispossess them of that post; pursuant to which
troops were levied in the several provinces of New
England, New York, and New Jersey. The general
rendezvous was appointed at Albany in the province
of New York and the troops put under the command
of Major General (since Sir William) Johnson. I
had the honour of commanding a company in the
troops furnished by the province of New Hampshire,
with which I made several excursions, pursuant to
special orders from the governor of that province,
on the northern and western frontiers with a view
to deter the French and their Indians from making
inroads upon us that way. In this manner I was
employed till the month' of July when I received
orders to repair to Albany at which place I tarried
till August 26th and was then ordered with 100
men to escort the provision wagons from thence
to the Carrying Place* then so called, since Fort
Edward. Here I waited upon the General to whom
I was recommended as a person well acquainted
with the haunts and passes of the enemy and the
Indian method of fighting, and was by him dis-
patched with small parties on several tours towards
the French posts, and was on one of these up
the Hudson River on the 8th of September when

Baron Dieskau was made prisoner and the French
and Indians under his command defeated at the
south end of Lake George.

The 24th of September I received orders from
the General to proceed with four men to Crown
Point and, if practicable, to bring a prisoner from
thence; and with an account of the manner in which
I executed these orders I shall begin my JOURNALS.

[1]

J O U R N A L, &c

September 24, 1755.

URSUANT to orfers of this date f
Major General Johnson, Commands
Chief of the Provincial Forces, raised
the reduction of Crown Point, I embai
with four men upon Lake George to reconnoitre
strength of the enemy, and proceeding down
lake twenty-five miles, I landed on the west !
leaving two men in charge of the boat, whi
inarched with the other two till the 29th, wh<
had a fair view of the fort at Crown Point, and
covered a large body of Indians round -the fort,
from their repeated irregular firing supposed
were shooting at marks (a diversion much in
among the savages). At night I crept through
enemy's guards into a small village lying sout
the fort, and passed their sentries to an emin

[2]

south-west of it, from whence I discovered they were
building a battery and had already thrown up an
entrenchment on that side of the fort. The next day,
from an eminence at a small distance from the
former, I discovered an encampment, which ex-
tended from the fort south-east to a windmill at
about thirty yards distance; as near as I could
judge, their number amounted to about 500 men:
but finding no opportunity to procure a captive,
and that our small party was discovered, I judged
it proper to begin a retreat homeward the 1st of
October. I took my route within two miles of
Ticonderoga from whence I observed a large smoke
to arise and heard the explosion of a number of
small arms; but our provisions being expended, we
could not tarry to ascertain the number of the
enemy there. On the 2d we arrived at the place
where we left our boat in the charge of two men,
but to our great mortification found they were
gone and no provisions left. This drcumstajice
hastened us to the encampment with all possible
speed, where we arrived the 4th, not a little fatigued
and distressed with hunger and cold.

October 7, 1755. I received orders of this date
from General Johnson to embark with five men
under my command to reconnoitre the French troops
at Ticonderoga. Accordingly I proceeded at night to
a point of land on the west side of the lake, where
we landed, hid our canoe, and left two men in charge
of it. The next day, with the other three, I marched
to the point at Ticonderoga, where we arrived
about noon. I here observed a body of men, which
I judged to be about 2000 in number, who had
thrown up an entrenchment and prepared large

[3]

quantities of hewn timber in the adjacent woods.
We remained here the second night, and next morn-
ing saw them lay the foundation of a fort on the
point which commands the pass from Lake George
to Lake Champlain and the entrance of South Bay
or Wood Creek. Having made what discoveries we
could, we began our return, in which we found
that the enemy had a large advanced guard at the
north end of Lake George where the river issues
out of it into Lake Champlain. While we were
viewing there, I observed a bark canoe, with nine
Indians and a Frenchman in it, going up the lake.
We kept sight of them till they passed the point of
land where our canoe and men were left, where,
when we arrived, we had Information from our
people that the above Indians and Frenchman had
landed on an island six miles to the south of us
near the middle of the lake. In a short time after,
we saw them put off from the island and steer di-
rectly towards us; upon which we put ourselves in
readiness to receive them in the best manner we
could, and gave them a salute at about 100 yards
distance, which reduced their number to four. We
then took boat and pursued them down the lake
till they were relieved by two canoes, which obliged
us to retreat towards our encampment at Lake George
where we arrived the 10th of October.

October 15, 1755. Agreeable to orders of this date
from General Johnson, I embarked with forty men
in five boats. Our design was to discover the strength
of the enemy's advance guard and, if possible, to
decoy the whole, or part of them, into an ambush;
but tho' we were indefatigable in our endeavours
for several days, yet all our attempts of this kind

[4]

proved abortive; and, as an account of our several
movements during this scout would little gratify
the reader, I shall omit giving a particular detail
of them. We returned safe to our encampment at
Lake George on the 19th.

October 21, 1755. I had orders from General
Johnson of this date to embark for Crown Point
with a party of four men in quest of a prisoner.
At night we landed on the west side of Lake George,
twenty-five miles from the English camp. The re-
mainder of the way we marched by land, and the
26th came in sight of the fort. In the evening we
approached nearer, and next morning found our-
selves within about 300 yards of it. My men lay
concealed in a thicket of willows, while I crept
something nearer to a large pine log where I con-
cealed myself by holding bushes in my hand. Soon
after sunrise the soldiers issued out in such num-
bers that my men and I could not possibly join
each other without a discovery. About 10 o'clock
a single man marched out directly towards our
ambush. When I perceived him within ten yards of
me, I sprang over the log; and met him, and offered
him quarters, which he refused, and made a pass
at me with a dirk, which I avoided, and presented
my fusee to his breast; but notwithstanding, he still
pushed on with resolution and obliged me to dis-
patch him. This gave an alarm to the enemy, and
made it necessary for us to hasten to the mountain.
I arrived safe at our camp the 30th with all my
party.

November 4, 1755. Agreeable to orders from Gen-
eral Johnson this day, I embarked for the enemy's
advanced guard before mentioned, with a party

[5]

of thirty men in four bateaux mounted with two
wall-pieces each. The next morning, a little before
daylight, we arrived within half a mile of them,
where we landed, and concealed our boats; I then
sent out four men as spies, who returned the next
evening and informed me that the enemy had no
works round them, but lay entirely open to an
assault; which advice I dispatched immediately to
the General, desiring a sufficient force to attack
them, which notwithstanding the General's earnest-
ness and activity in the affair, did not arrive till we
were obliged to retreat. On our return, however,
we were met by a reinforcement sent by the General,
whereupon I returned again towards the enemy, and
the next evening sent two men to see if the enemy's
sentries were alert, who approached so near as to
be discovered and fired at by them, and were so
closely pursued in their retreat that unhappily our
whole party was discovered. The first notice I had
of this being the case was from two canoes with
thirty men in them, which I concluded came out
with another party by land in order to force us
between two fires; to prevent which, I, with Lieu-
tenant McCurdy, and fourteen men embarked in
two boats, leaving the remainder of the party on
shore under the command of Captain Putnam. In
order to decoy the enemy within the reach of our
wall-pieces, we steered as if we intended to pass by
them, which luckily answered our expectations^ for
they boldly headed us till within about an hundred
yards, when we discharged the before mentioned
pieces, which killed several of them and put the
rest to flight, in which we drove them so near where
our land party lay that they were again galled by

[6]

them; several of the enemy were tumbled into the
water, and their canoes rendered very leaky. At
this time I discovered their party by land, and gave
our people notice of it, who thereupon embarked
likewise, without receiving any considerable injury
from the enemy's fire notwithstanding it was for some
time very brisk upon them. We warmly pursued the
enemy, and again got an opportunity to discharge
our wall-pieces upon them, which confused them
much and obliged them to disperse. We pursued
them down the lake to their landing where they
were received and covered by 100 men; upon whom
we again discharged our wall-pieces, and obliged
them to retire; but finding their number vastly su-
perior to ours, we judged it most prudent to return
to our encampment at Lake George, where we safely
arrived on the 8th of November.

November 10, 1755. Pursuant to orders I received
this day from General Johnson, in order to discover
the enemy's strength and situation at Ticonderoga,
I proceeded on the scout with a party of ten men,
on the 12th instant, and on the 14th arrived within
view of the fort at that place, and found they had
erected three new barracks and four store houses in
the fort, between which and the water they had
eighty bateaux hauled upon the beach, and about
fifty tents near the fort; they appeared to be very
busy at work. Having by these discoveries answered
the design of our march, we returned, and arrived
at our encampment the 19th of November.

December 19, 1755. Having had a month's re-
pose, I proceeded, agreeable to orders from General
Johnson, with two men, once more to reconnoitre
the French at Ticonderoga. In our way we dis-

[7]

covered a fire upon an island adjacent to the route
we took, which, as we supposed, had been kindled
by some of the enemy who were there. This obliged
us to lie by and act like fishermen, the better to
deceive them, till night came on, when we pro-
ceeded and retired to the west side of the lake, fifteen
miles north of our fort. Here concealing our boat,
the 20th we pursued our march by land, and on
the 2 1st, at noon, were in sight of the French
fort, where we found their people still deeply en-
gaged at work, and discovered four pieces of cannon
mounted on the south-east bastion, two at the north-
west towards the woods and two on the south. By
what I judged, the number of their troops were
about 500. 1 made several attempts to take a prisoner
by waylaying their paths; but they always passed
in numbers vastly superior to mine, and thereby
disappointed me. We approached very near the fort
by night, and were driven by the cold (which now
was very severe) to take shelter in one of their
evacuated huts; before day there was a fall of snow,
which obliged us with all possible speed to march
homeward lest the enemy should perceive our tracks
and pursue us.

We found our boat in safety, and had the good
fortune (after being almost exhausted with hunger,
cold, and fatigue) to kill two deer, with which being
refreshed, on the 24th we returned to Fort William
Henry (a fortress erected in this year's campaign)
at the south end of Lake George. About this time
General Johnson retired to Albany, to which place
commissioners were sent from the several govern-
ments whose troops had been under his command
(New Hampshire only excepted) . These commas-

[8]

sioners were empowered by their respective consti-
tuents, with the assent of a council of war, to garri-
son Fort William Henry and Fort Edward for that
winter with part of the troops that had served the
preceding year. Accordingly a regiment was formed,
to which Boston government furnished a Colonel-
Connecticut a Lieutenant Colonel and New York
a Major: after which it was adjudged, both by
General Johnson and these Commissioners, that it
would be of great use to leave one company of
woodsmen or rangers under my command to make
excursions towards the enemy's forts during the
winter; I accordingly remained, and did duty the
whole winter until called upon by General Shirley.

January 14, 1756. I this day marched with a party
of seventeen men to reconnoitre the French forts;
we proceeded down the lake on the ice upon skates,
and halted for refreshment near the fallout of Lake
George into Lake Champlain. At night we renewed
our march, and, by daybreak on the 16th, formed
an ambush on a point of land on the east shore of
Lake Champlain, within gunshot of the path in
which the enemy passed from one fort to the other.
About sunrise, two sledges laden with fresh beef
were presented to our view, we intercepted the
drivers, destroyed their loading, and afterwards re-
turned to Fort William Henry, where I arrived with
my prisoners and party in good health the 17th.

January 26, 1756. Pursuant to orders of this date,
from Colonel Glasier, I marched from Lake George
with a party of fifty men, with a design to discover
the strength and works of the enemy at Crown Point.

On the 2d of February, we arrived within a mile
of that fortress, where we climbed a very steep moun-

[9]

tain, from which we had a clear and full prospect
of the fort and an opportunity of taking a plan of
the enemy's works there. In the evening we retired
to a small village, half a mile from the fort, and
formed an ambuscade on each side of the road
leading from the fort to the village. Next morning
a Frenchman fell into our hands; soon after we
discovered two more, but they unluckily got sight
of us before they were in our power, and hastily
retired to the fort. Finding ourselves discovered by
the enemy by this accident, we employed ourselves
while we dared stay in setting fire to the houses
and barns of the villages, with which were consumed
large quantities of wheat and other grain; we also
killed about fifty cattle, and then retired, leaving
the whole village in flames, and arrived safe at our
fort, with our prisoner, the 6th of February.

February 29, 1756. Agreeable to orders from Colo-
nel Glasier, I this day marched with a party of
fifty-six men down the west side of Lake George.
We continued our route northward till the 5th of
March, and then steered east to Lake Champlain,
about six miles north of Crown Point, where, by
the intelligence we had from the Indians, we ex-
pected to find some inhabited villages. We then
attempted to cross the lake, but found the ice too
weak. The 17th we returned and marched round
the bay to the west of Crown Point, and at night
got into the cleared land among their houses and
barns; here we formed an ambush, expecting their
labourers out to tend their cattle and dean their
grain of which there were several barns full; we
continued there that night, and next day till dark,
when, discovering none of the enemy, we set fixe

[10]

to the houses and barns, and marched off. In our
return I took a fresh view of Ticonderoga, and
reconnoitred the ground between that fort and
the advanced guard on Lake George, approaching
so near as to see their sentries on the ramparts, and
obtained all the knowledge of their works, strength,
and situation that I desired.

The 14th of March, we returned safe to Fort
William Henry.

Hie next day, after my return from this scout,
I received a letter, dated February 24, 1756, from
Mr. William Alexander of New York, who was
secretary to Mr. Shirley, Commander-in-Chief of
the troops at Oswego the preceding year, and who
now, upon the decease of General Braddock, suc-
ceeded to the chief command of all his Majesty's
forces in North America, and was now at Boston,
preparing for the ensuing campaign, being previously
recommended to this gentleman by General John-
son. I was desired by the above-mentioned letter to
wait on him at Boston; of which I informed the
commanding officer at the fort, and, with his appro-
bation, I set out on the 17th of March, leaving the
command of my company to Mr. Noah Johnson,
my Ensign; my brother Richard Rogers, who was
my Lieutenant, being sent to Boston by the com-
manding officer on some dispatches previous to this.

On the 23d, I waited on the General, and met
with a very friendly reception; he soon intimated
his design of giving me the command of an inde-
pendent company of rangers, and the very next
morning I received the commission with a set of
instructions.

According to the General's orders, my company

[11]

was to consist of sixty privates, at 3 s. New York
currency per day, three sergeants at 4 s., an Ensign
at 5 s., a Lieutenant at 7 s., and my own pay was
fixed at 10 s. per day. Ten Spanish dollars were
allowed to each man towards providing clothes,
arms, and blankets. My orders were to raise this
company as quick as possible, to enlist none but
such as were used to travelling and hunting, and in
whose courage and fidelity I could confide: they
were, moreover, to be subject to military discipline
and the articles of war.

Our rendezvous was appointed at Albany, from
thence to proceed in four whaleboats to Lake George,
and, "from time to time, to use my best endeavours
"to distress the French and their allies, by sacking,
"burning; and destroying their houses, barns, bar-
Bracks, canoes, bateaux, See, and by killing their
"cattle of every kind; and at all times to endeavour
"to waylay, attack, and destroy their convoys of pro-
"visions by land and water, in any part of the coun-
"try where I could find them."

With these instructions, I received letters to the
comanding officers at Fort William Henry and Fort
Edward directing them to forward the service with
which I was now particularly charged.

When my company was completed, a part marched
under the command of Lieutenant Rogers to Albany;
with the remainder, I was ordered to march through
the woods to No. 4, then a frontier town greatly
exposed to the enemy; where,

April 28, 1756, I received orders to march from
thence to Crown Point, in pursuance of which we
travelled through forests and mountains. The second
day of our march, my second Lieutenant, Mr. John

[12]

Stark, was taken sick, and obliged to return, with
whom I sent six men to guard him to Fort Edward.

We continued our march till the 5th of May when
I arrived with nine men at Lake Champlain, four
miles south of Crown Point. Here we concealed our
packs, and marched up to a village on the east side
about two miles distant from Crown Point, but
found no inhabitant there. We lay in wait the whole
day following, opposite to Crown Point, expecting
some party to cross the lake; but nothing appeared
except about four or five hundred men in canoes
and bateaux coming up the lake from St. John's to
Crown Point. We kept our stations till next day, ten
o'clock A.M., to observe the motions of the enemy, but
finding no opportunity to trap any of them, we
killed twenty-three head of cattle, the tongues of
which were a very great refreshment to us on our
journey. We at this time discovered eleven canoes
manned with a considerable number of French and
Indians crossing the lake directly towards us, upon
which we retired; and the better to escape our pur-
suers we dispersed, each man taking a different route.
We afterwards assembled at the place where we
concealed our packs, and on a raft crossed over to
the west side of the lake. In our way we had a view
of the French and Indians encamped at the old In-
dian carrying place near Ticonderoga, and the llth
of May arrived safe at Fort William Henry. Mr.
Stark with his party arrived at Fort Edward three
days before. In their way they discovered a scouting
party of three or four hundred Indians. Lieutenant
Rogers with his party had arrived some days before
this, and was at this time out upon a scout.

May 20, 1756. Agreeable to orders from the Gen-

[IS]

eral, I set out with a party of eleven men to recon-
noitre the French advanced guards. The next day,
from the top of a mountain, we had a view of them,
and judged their number to be about 300; they were
busy in fortifying themselves with palisades. From
the other side of the mountain we had a prospect
of Ticonderoga fort, and, from the ground their
encampment took up, I judged it to consist of about
1000 men. This night we lodged on the mountain,
and next morning marched to the Indian carrying
path that leads from Lake George to Lake Cham-
plain, and formed an ambuscade between the French
guards and Ticonderoga fort. About six o'clock 118
Frenchmen passed by without discovering us, in a
few minutes after, twenty-two more came the same
road, upon whom we fired, killed six, and took one
prisoner; but the large party returning, obliged us
to retire in haste, and we arrived safe with our pris-
oner at Fort William Henry the 23d.

The prisoner we had taken reported, "that a party
"of 220 French and Indians were preparing to invest
"the out-parties at Fort Edward." which occasioned
my marching the next morning with a party of 78
men, to join a detachment of CoL Bagley's regi-
ment, to scour the woods as far as South Bay, if pos-
sible to intercept the enemy; but we could not
discover them.

June 13, 1756. Agreeable to orders this evening, I
embarked with a party of 26 men in bateaux upon
Lake George to revisit the French advanced guard;
excessive thunder and lightning obliged us to land
at about ten miles distance from our fort, where we
spent the night. The next morning, about sunrise,
we heard the explosion of upwards of twenty small

[14]

arms, on the opposite side of the lake, which we
supposed to be a party of French and Indians dean-
ing their guns after the rain. In the evening we
embarked again, and early in the morning of the
16th drew up our bateaux about four miles distant
from the advanced guard, and afterwards lay in
ambush by a path leading from thence to a moun-
tain, in order to surprise the enemy, who went there
daily in parties to take a view of the lake; but finding
they were not at that place, we marched to the spot
where the enemy had posted their advanced guard,
but they had retired and demolished all their works
there; we then continued our march towards Ticon-
deroga, near which place we ascended an eminence
and had a clear view of their works. I judged that
their garrison and encampment consisted of about
3000 men. We then set out on our return, and ar-
rived at Fort William Henry the 18th instant, ex-
cept one man who strayed from us and who did not
get in till the 23d, then almost famished for want
of sustenance.

About this time the General augmented my com-
pany to seventy men, and sent me six light whale-
boats from Albany, with orders to proceed imme-
diately to Lake Champlain, to cut off, if possible,
the provisions and flying parties of the enemy. Ac-
cordingly,

June 28, 1756, I embarked with fifty men in five
whaleboats, and proceeded to an island in Lake
George. The next day, at about five miles distance
from this island, we landed our boats, and carried
them about six miles over a mountain to South Bay,
where we arrived the 3d of July. The following
evening we embarked again, and went down the

[15]

bay to within six miles of the French fort, where
we concealed our boats till the evening. We then
embarked again, and passed by Ticonderoga undis-
covered tho' we were so near the enemy as to hear
their sentry's watchword. We judged from the num-
ber of their fires that they had a body of about 2000
men, and the lake in this place to be near 400 yards
wide. About five miles further down, we again
concealed our boats, and lay by all day. We saw
several bateaux going and coming upon the lake.
At night we put off again with a design to pass by
Crown Point, but afterwards judged it imprudent
by reason of the clearness of the night, so lay con-
cealed again the next day, when near a hundred
boats passed by us, seven of which came very near
the point where we were and would have landed
there; but the officer insisted, in our hearing, upon
going about 150 yards further, where they landed,
and dined in our view. About nine o'clock at night
we reembarked, and passed the fort at Crown Point,
and again concealed our boats at about 10 miles
distance from it. This day, being July 7th, SO boats
and a schooner of about 30 or 40 tons passed by us
towards Canada. We set out again in the evening,
and landed about fifteen miles further down, from
which place I sent a party for further discovery, who
brought intelligence of a schooner at anchor about
a mile from us; we immediately lightened our boats
and prepared to board her; but were prevented by
two lighters coming up the lake, who, we found,
intended to land where we were posted; these we
fired upon, then hailed them, and offered them
quarters if they would come ashore; but they hastily
pushed towards the opposite shore, where we pur-

[16]

sued and intercepted them: we found their number
to be twelve, three of which were killed by our
fire and two wounded, one of them in such a man-
ner that he soon died. We sunk and destroyed their
vessels and cargoes, which consisted chiefly of wheat
and flour, wine and brandy; some few casks of the
latter we carefully concealed. The prisoners in-
formed us that they were a pan of 500 men, the re-
mainder of which were not far behind on their pas-
sage, which induced us to hasten our return to our
garrison, where, with our prisoners, we safely ar-
rived the 15th of July. These prisoners upon exami-
nation reported, "That a great number of regular
"troops and militia were assembling at Chambly and
"destined for Carillon, or Ticonderoga:* that great
"quantities of provisions were transporting there,
"and a new General f with two regiments lately
"arrived from France: that there was no talk of any
"design upon our forts on this side; but that a party
"of 300 French and 20 Indians had already set out
"to intercept our convoys of provisions between
"Albany and Lake George: that 60 livres was the
"reward for an English scalp, and that the prisoners
"were sold in Canada for 50 crowns each: that their
"prospect of a harvest was very encouraging, but
"that the small pox made great havoc amongst the
"inhabitants." About the time of my setting out upon
this scout, Major General Shirley was superseded in
his command by Major General Aberoromby, who

*The former is the French, the latter the TtiHia^ name,
signifying the meeting or confluence of three waters.

tThe Marquis de Montcalm who commanded in the re-
duction of Oswcgo this year and of Fort William Henry the
year following.

[17]

arrived at the headquarters in Albany on the 25th
of June, and brought with him two regiments of
regular troops from England. I therefore upon my
return wrote to his Excellency, desiring leave to lay
bef6re him the minutes of my last scout, and to rec-
ommend to his consideration an augmentation of the
rangers. The General permitted me, with my brother
Richard Rogers, to wait upon him at Albany. In
this interview we discoursed on the subject of my
letter, in consequence of which he immediately ord-
ered a new company of rangers to be raised, and
gave the command of it to my brother,* appointed
Noah Johnson, my former Ensign, his First Lieuten-
ant, Nathaniel Abbot his Second lieutenant, and
Caleb Page his Ensign. John StaA, formerly my
Second Lieutenant, was appointed my First, John
McCurdy succeeded to his place, and Jonathan Bur-
bank was appointed my Ensign.

August 2, 1756. Agreeable to orders received of
General Abercromby at Albany, the 23d of July, I
embarked this day at Fort William Henry on board
one of the lighters built there this summer, with
twenty-five of my company, in order to reconnoitre
the enemy at Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and
sixty men under Capt. Laniard of the provincials,
who had General Winslow'sf orders to proceed
with his men to the French advanced guard; but
he, not being acquainted with the way thither, put

* He completed his company in 28 days, and, by the Gen-
eral's orders, went up Mohawk River, to serve as a scouting
party for the troops that way.

t General Winslow commanded the provincial troops this
year by virtue of a commission from the several provinces, who
were concerned in 1755 in the same expedition, and was now
with the greatest part of the provincial troops at Lake George.

[18]

himself under my command. We landed this morn-
ing about fifteen miles down Lake George, and pro-
ceeded with the party till the 4th in the evening,
and encamped about a mile from the advanced
guard. The 5th in the morning mustered the whole
party, and got to the summit of a hill, west of the
advanced guard, where we discovered two advanced
posts which I then imagined was the whole of the
guard, one of them on the west side, half a mile
southward of Lake Champlain, the other on the
east side of the Lake, opposite the former, at the
old Indian carrying place. We judged there were
about 400 men on the east and 200 on the west
After deliberating with Capt. Larnard upon the
strength and disposition of the enemy and the re-
port of our advanced party, we concluded it unad-
visable to continue there any longer. He returned
towards Fort William Henry and I went on with my
own party till we came within view of Ticonderoga
fort, where, from an eminence, I discovered the situ-
ation, but could not ascertain the strength of it to
my satisfaction.

August 6, I went down towards Crown Point, by
the west side of Lake Champlain, and discovered
several bateaux passing from that place to Ticon-
deroga with troops on board. We then proceeded
to the place where we burnt the village, as men-
tioned before, and there encamped, and perceived a
party sallying out, driving a number of horses to
feed.

The 7th we lay in ambush by the road, with a
design to intercept such as might come out to drive
in the cattle; but no one appearing for that pur-
pose, we approached nearer, to within half a mile

[19]

of the fort, where we were discovered by two French-
men before they were in our power. This accident
obliged us to make a retreat, in which we killed
upwards of forty cattle. We arrived at Fort William
Henry, August 10.

A company of Stockbridge Indians was this year
employed in his Majesty's service, commanded by
Indian officers, properly commissioned by General
Shirley before he was superseded in his command.
General Abercromby was somewhat at a loss how
to dispose of this company, and applied to Sir Wil-
liam Johnson, who advised that a part,* viz. thirty
privates and a Lieutenant, should scout and scour
the woods under my direction, which party had
arrived while I was out upon my last scout, aqd
Lieutenant Stark had strengthened their party with
some of our people, and sent them out with par-
ticular directions what route to take, the day before
I arrived.

About this time his Excellency the Earl of Lou-
doun arrived at Albany and had taken upon >"'
the command of the army, to whom I applied as
I had done before to General Abercromby, trans-
mitting to him an account of the Indian scout above
mentioned (who returned the 13th with two French
scalps, agreeable to their barbarous custom), and
desiring that with them I might attempt to penetrate
into Canada, and distress the inhabitants by burning
their harvest (now nearly ripe) and destroying their
cattle.

Accordingly, August 16, we embarked in whale-

* The remainder of *** Indian company, with their Cap-
tain, were sent to Saratoga, to be under the direction of
Colonel Burton.

[20]

boats in two departments, the one commanded by
Lieutenant Stark, the other by myself. The next
morning we joined each other, at which time also
fell in with us a party of eight Mohawks who had
marched out from Fort William Henry the day
before. We then marched directly to the place where
we left our whaleboats the 7th of July, proceeding
about twenty-five miles northward of Crown Point
fort, on the west side of Lake Champlain, where we
all (excepting one man who strayed from us and
returned) arrived safe the 24th. We embarked again
in our boats, and steered down the lake towards
St. John's. The 25th we proceeded twenty miles
further, and about midnight discovered a schooner
standing up the lake with a fair wind towards Crown
Point; they passed us so swiftly that we could not
possibly board her as we intended.

The 26th we landed, and the Mohawks left us to
join another party of theirs then out on a scout.

The 27th we got on a point with a design to inter-
cept the enemy's bateaux that might pass up and
down the lake; but not discovering any, and our
provisions growing short, we returned up the lake,
and landed eight miles north of the fort at Crown
Point, on the east side of the lake.

The 29th in the morning we marched to a village
lying east of the fort, and in our way took prisoners,
a man, his wife, and daughter (a girl about fourteen
years of age) ; with these prisoners we returned and
arrived safe at Fort William Henry, September 2,
1756.

The man prisoner, above mentioned, upon exami-
nation reported, "That he was born at Vaisac, in the
" province of Guienne in France: that he had been

[21]

" in Canada about fifteen years, and in the colonies
"service about six, and two years at Crown Point:
" that there were only 300" men at Crown Point and
"those chiefly inhabitants of the adjacent villages;
" that there were 4000 men at Ticonderoga or Caril-
"lon, 1500 of which were regular troops who had
" a sufficiency of all kinds of provisions: that he never
"was at Ticonderoga or at the advance guard, but
" heard there were only fifteen men at the latter: that
" the French had 600 Indians at Ticonderoga and
"expected 600 more: that 1200 were arrived at
"Quebec for Carillon, which last 1800 hundred
"were under the command of Mons. Stipio de la
"Masure: that they had a great quantity of can-
"non, mortars, shells, 8cc. at Ticonderoga, but he
"did not know -the number or quantity: that they
" expected the above reinforcement in two or three
" days at Ticonderoga, having sent boats to Montreal
"to fetch them: that they understood by a letter
" that Oswego had fallen into their hands, but the
"news was not confirmed: that they had heard we
" intended to invest Carillon, but did not know what
" movements were intended on their side should we
"neglect it: that they had 150 bateaux on Lake
"Champlain, which were kept at Carillon, thirty-
"five of which constantly plied between Montreal
" and that fortress: that Mons. Montcalm commanded
"at Frontenac with 5000 men, but did not know
"whether these troops were regulars or provincials:
" that a great number of vessels had arrived at Cana-
"da with provisions and military stores: that they
"heard we had several ships in the river St. Law-
"rence: that Mons. Lvis commanded at Carillon,
"and came last May from France; and that, since

[22]

"the two last shallops or lighters (before mentioned)
"were taken, they had augmented the number of
"men on board tie large schooner in Lake Cham-
" plain from twelve to thirty."

Upon my return to the fort, I received orders
from my Lord Loudoun to wait upon Col. Burton
of the 48th regiment for instructions, he being then
posted at Saratoga. By him I was ordered to return
to my company at Fort William Henry and march
them to the South Bay, thence east to the Wood
Creek, then to cross it southerly, opposite to Sara-
toga, and return and make my report to him.

In this tour we apprehended four deserters from
Otway's regiment, who were going to the enemy,
and whom I sent back to Fort Edward with a part
of my detachment under the command of Lieu-
tenant Stark, and proceeded with the remainder
to complete my orders, after which I returned to
Saratoga to make my report.

There I met my brother Capt Richard Rogers
with his company, he being ordered back from
Mohawk River, to join me with the remainder of
the Stockbridge Indians; and I marched both com-
panies to Fort Edward, where I was ordered to
form an encampment. A part of the Indian com-
pany were sent out on the east side of Lake Cham-
plain to alarm the enemy at Ticonderoga, whilst I,
with a detachment of my own, and Capt. Richard
Rogers's company, was ordered on another party
down Lake George in whaleboats, and the remainder
of the companies were employed in reconnoitring
round the encampment, and also served as flankers
to the parties that guarded provisions to Lake
George. Capt. Jacob, who commanded the Indian

[28]

party before mentioned, returned two days before
me with four French scalps, which they took op-
posite to Ticonderoga on the east side.

September 7, 1756. Agreeable to orders, I this day
embarked on Lake George with a party of fourteen
men in a whaleboat, which we landed, and con-
cealed the evening following, on the east shore,
about four miles south of the French advance guard.
Here I divided my party, taking seven men with
me, leaving the remainder in charge of Mr. Chalmer
(a volunteer sent me by Sir John Sinclair) with
orders, upon his discovering the enemy's boats going
up the lake, fee. to make the best of his way with
the intelligence to Fort William Henry.

I was the 9th current within half a mile of Ticon-
deroga fort, where I endeavoured to reconnoitre the
enemy's works and strength. They were engaged
in raising the walls of the fort, and had erected a
large blockhouse near the south-east corner of the
fort, with ports in it for cannon. East from the
blockhouse was a battery, which I imagined com-
manded the lake. I discovered five houses south of
the fort close to the water-side, and 160 tents south-
west of the fort, and twenty-seven bateaux hauled
upon the beach.

Next morning, with one private, I went to view
the falls betwixt Lake Champlain and Lake George
(where I had heard the explosion of several guns
the evening before, and had at that time sent Ser-
geant Henry to discover the reason of it), leaving
the remainder of my party in charge of Mr. Gibbs,
another volunteer, to wait our return. Sergeant
Henry followed soon after me, and reported, "that
" the French were building a small fort at the head

[24]

"of the falls on the east side of the lake; that he also
"discovered their guard to the westward, and imag-
" ined both consisted of 500 men." I returned, after
finding the French were engaged in building a saw-
mill at the lower end of the falls, and found my
boats, with provisions left, as I suppose, by Mr.
Chalmer and his party, whom I waited for till seven
o'clock next day; but he not returning, and I judging
from their tracks that they were returned to Fort
William Henry, we likewise began our return, and
arrived safe the llth of September, where I found
Mr. Chalmer and the party left with him, he having
punctually obeyed the orders given him above. Upon
my return, I communicated my observations upon
the Lakes George an^ Champlain to my Lord Lou-
doun, giving him as just a description as I could
of their situation.

September 24, General Abercromby issued out
orders that three commissioned officers of the rangers,
with 20 privates each, should reconnoitre the Wood
Creek, South Bay, and Ticonderoga; and these were
alternately sent out, so that a continual scout was
kept up for a considerable time.

October 22, 1766. The greatest part of the army
was now at Fort Edward, under the command of
General Abercromby, and Lord Loudoun arriving
about this time with the remainder, it was generally
expected that die army would cross the lake and
endeavour to reduce the French forts notwithstand-
ing the season was so far advanced; but his Lord-
ship taking into consideration the probability that
those lakes would freeze (which they generally do
in the month of December) , in which case no sup-
plies could be had from, nor any communication

[25]

kept up with Fort William Henry; he determined
to desist from this design, and contended himself
with keeping the field till Mons. Montcalm retired
to winter quarters, and accordingly sought all oppor-
tunities to learn his situation and movements.

Agreeable to orders from his Lordship, I this day
embarked in two whaleboats, with a party of twenty
men, upon Lake George, with an intent to bring
a prisoner from Ticonderoga. We passed the Nar-
rows twenty miles from our embarkation when Capt.
Shephard (who was made a captive in August last
and carried to Canada) hailed our boat; I knew
his voice and took Him on board with three other
men, one of whom was taken with him. He reported
that he left Canada fifteen days before. I went on
my course till the 27th towards Carillon, and landed
that night on the west side of the lake, concealed
our boats, and travelled by land to within a mile
of the fort. I kept spies out the day after to im-
prove any opportunity that might offer, and the
next day sent them still nearer, but to no good pur-
pose: I at length discovered two men, sentries to
the picket guard of the French army, one of which
was posted on the road that leads from the fort to
the woods: I took five of my party and marched
directly down the road in the middle of the day
till we were challenged by the sentry. I answered in
French, signifying that we were friends; thte sentinel
was thereby deceived, till I came close to him, when
perceiving his mistake in great surprise he called,
Qui etes vous? I answered, Rogers, and led him from
his post in great haste, cutting his breeches and coat
from hi that he might march with the greater
ease and expedition. With this prisoner we arrived

[26]

at Fort William Henry, Oct. SI, 1756. Upon exami-
nation, he reported, "That he belonged to the regi-
"ment of Languedoc: that he left Brest last April
" was a twelve month, and had served since at Lake
"Champlain, Crown Point, and Carillon, was last
"year with General Dieskau in the battle at Fort
"Wiliam Henry: that they lost in that engagement
" of regulars, Canadians, and Indians, a great num-
"ber: that at Carillon were at this time mounted
" thirty-six pieces of cannon, viz. twelve eighteen
" pounders, fifteen twelve pounders, and nine eight
" pounders: that at Crown Point were eighteen pieces,
" the largest of which were eighteen pounders: that
" Mons. Montcalm's forces this year at Carillon
"were 5000 regulars and 2000 Canadians and In-
"dians: that Montcalm himself was drawn off with
"one battalion, and that the forces then in that
" neighborhood consisted of five battalions and about
" 800 Canadians: that the Indians were all gone off,
"200 of whom talked of returning to spend the
"winter at Carillon: that the advanced guard on the
"west side above the falls were all drawn in and
"that on the east consisted of 600 men who were
" to decamp the 1st of November: that they had a
"camp of five battalions and sixty Canadians, about
" half a league from Carillon, and that the rest of
the army were under the fort: that they had bar-
" racks sufficient for 500 men which he understood
" were to quarter there: that they had one schooner
"and 200 bateaux on Lake Champlain, and but
"five or six on Lake George: that Mons. Lvis com-
"manded in Mons. Montcalm's absence, and that
" the Canadians were commanded by Messieurs La
" Come and Columbia: that when Monsieur Mont-

J

"calm went off, he said he had done enough for
"this year and would take Fort William early in
"the spring: that the French had taken four of
"Captain Rogers's whaleboats in Lake Champlain:
" that when he was taken prisoner, he imagined him-
" self to be about a gunshot and half from the fort,
" and that the French camp was pretty healthy."

From this time we were constantly employed in
patrolling the woods about Fort Edward till the
19th November 1756 when I had his Lordship's
orders to take another excursion down the Lake.
Captain Abercrombie, Aid-de-camp and nephew to
General Abercromby, did me the honour to accom-
pany me; but nothing material being in our power
to effect, except taking a view of the fort and works
of the enemy at Ticonderoga, we returned safe to
Fort Edward the 25th in the evening.

About this time his Lordship drew off the main
body of the troops from Fort Edward to be quartered
at Albany and New York.

Both armies being now retired to winter quarters,
nothing material happened to the end of this year.
The rangers were stationed at the Forts William
Henry and Edward, to which also two new compa-
nies of rangers were sent this fall, commanded by
Captain Spikeman and Captain Hobbs, in one of
which my brother James Rogers was appointed an
Ensign.

These two companies were stationed at Fort Wil-
liam Henry, mine and my brother Richard's at Fort
Edward.

Captain Richard Rogers had leave to go into New
England for recruits to complete our two compa-
nies. He this winter waited upon the government

[28]

of Boston to obtain pay for our services in the winter
1755 before mentioned, but could obtain none not-
withstanding Lord Loudoun, who was then at Bos-
ton, generously supported and enforced our solicita-
tions with his interest.

January 15, 1757. Agreeable to orders from the
commanding officer at Fort Edward, I this day
marched with my own Lieutenant Mr. Stark, Ensign
Page of Captain Richard Rogers's company, and fifty
privates of said companies to Fort William Henry
where we were employed in providing provisions,
snowshoes, &c. till the 17th, when being joined by
Captain Spikeman, Lieutenant Kennedy and Ensign
Brewer of his company, and fourteen of their men,
together with Ensign. James Rogers and fourteen
men of Captain Hobbs's company, and Mr. Baker,
a volunteer of the 44th Regiment of foot, we began
our march on the ice down Lake George, and at
night encamped on the east side of the First Nar-
rows. The next morning, finding that some of the
detachment had hurt themselves in the march the
day before, as many were dismissed to return to the
fart as reduced our party to seventy-four men, officers
included.

The I8th we marched twelve miles down the lake
and encamped on the west side of it.

The 19th we marched three miles from our en-
campment further down the lake, and then took the
land, and, upon snowshoes, travelled north-west
about eight miles from our landing and three from
the lake, where we encamped.

The 20th we marched north-by-east the whole day,
and at night encamped on the western side opposite

[29]

to and about three miles distant from Lake Cham-
plain.

The 21st we marched east till we came to the lake
about midway between Crown Point and Ticon-
deroga, and immediately discovered a sled going
from the latter to the former. I ordered Lieutenant
Stark with twenty men to head the sled, while I,
with a party, marched the other way to prevent its
retreating back again, leaving Captain Spikeman in
the center with the remainder. I soon discovered
eight or ten sleds more following down the lake,
and endeavoured to give Mr. Stark intelligence of
it before he sallied on the lake and discovered him-
self to them, but could not. They all hastily returned
towards Ticonderoga. We pursued them, and took
seven prisoners, three sleds, and six horses; the re-
mainder made their escape. We examined the cap-
tives separately, who reported, "That 200 Canadians
" and 45 Indians were just arrived at Ticonderoga,
"and were to be reinforced that evening or next
" morning by fifty Indians more from Crown Point:
" that there were 600 regular troops at that fortress
" and 350 at Ticonderoga where they soon expected
" a large number of troops, who in the spring were
" to besiege our forts: that they had large magazines
" of provisions in their forts, and that the above men-
" tioned party were well equipped, and in condition
" to march upon any emergency at the least notice,
" and were designed soon to waylay and distress our
" convoys between the forts."

From this account of things, and knowing that
those who escaped would give early notice of us at
Ticonderoga, I concluded it best to return; and or-

[30]

dered the party with the utmost expedition to march
to the fires we had kindled the night before and
prepare for a battle, if it should be offered, by
drying our guns, it being a rainy day, which we
effected; and then marched in a single file, myself
and Lieutenant Kennedy in the front, Lieutenant
Stark in the rear, and Captain Spikeman in the
center. Ensigns Page and Rogers were between the
front and center, and Ensign Brewer between the
center and rear, Sergeant Walker having the com-
mand of a rear guard. In this manner we advanced
half a mile or thereabouts over broken ground, when
passing a valley of about fifteen rods breadth (the
front having reached the summit of a hill on the
west side of it) , the enemy, who had here drawn
up in the form of a half-moon with a design, as
we supposed, to surround us, saluted us with a
volley of about 200 shot at the distance of about
five yards from the nearest, or front, and thirty from
the rear of their party. This fire was about two
o'clock in the afternoon, and proved fatal to Lieu-
tenant Kennedy and Mr. Gardner, a volunteer in
my company, and wounded me and several others;
myself, however, but slightly in the head. We im-
mediately returned their fire. I then ordered my
men to the opposite hill where I supposed Lieu-
tenant Stark and Ensign Brewer had made a stand
with forty men to cover us in case we were obliged
to retreat. We were dosdy pursued, and Captain
Spikeman with several of the party were killed, and
others made prisoners. My people, however, beat
them back by a brisk fire from the hill, which gave
us an opportunity to ascend and post ourselves to
advantage. After which I ordered Lieutenant Stark

[31]

and Mr. Baker in the center, with Ensign Rogers;
Sergeants Walter and Phillips, with a party, being
a reserve to prevent our being flanked and watch
the motions of the enemy. Soon after we had thus
formed ourselves for battle the enemy attempted
to flank us on the right, but the above reserve
bravely attacked them, and giving them the first
fire very briskly, it stopped several from retreating
to the main body. The enemy then pushed us
closely in the front; but having the advantage of
the ground and being sheltered by large trees, we
maintained a continual fire upon them, which killed
several and obliged the rest to retire to their main
body. They then attempted to flank us again, but
were again met by our reserved party and repulsed.
Mr. Baker about this time was killed. We main-
tained a pretty constant fire on both sides till the
darkness prevented our seeing each other, and about
sunset I received a ball thro' my hand and wrist,
which disabled me from loading my gun. I however
found means to keep my people from being intimi-
dated by this accident; they gallantly kept their ad-
vantageous situation till the fire ceased on both
sides. The enemy during the action used many arts
and stratagems to induce us to submit, sometimes
threatening us with severity if we refused, assuring
us that they every moment expected a large rein-
forcement which should cut us to pieces without
mercy: at other times flattering and cajolling us,
declaring it was a pity so many brave men should
be lost; that we should upon our surrender be
treated with the greatest compassion and kindness;
calling me by name, they gave me the strongest
assurances of their esteem and friendship that words

[32]

could do; but no one being dismayed by their
menaces or flattered by fair promises, we told them
our numbers were sufficient and that we were de-
termined to keep our ground as long as there were
two left to stand by each other.

After the action, in which we had a great number
so severely wounded that they could not travel with-
out assistance, and our ammunition being nearly
expended, and considering that we were near to
Ticonderoga from whence the enemy might easily
make a descent and overpower us by numbers, I
thought it expedient to take the advantage of the
night to retreat, and gave orders accordingly; and
the next morning arrived at Lake George, about
six miles south of the* French advance guard, from
whence I dispatched Lieutenant Stark with two
men to Fort William Henry to procure conveyances
for our wounded men thither; and the next morning
we we^e met by a party of fifteen men and a sled
under the command of Lieutenant Buckley, of
Hobbs's company of Rangers, at the first narrows
at Lake George. Our whole party, which now con-
sisted of only forty-eight effective, and six wounded
men, arrived at Fort William Henry the same even-
ing, being the 23d of January 1757.

The nearest computation we could make of the
number which attacked us was that it consisted of
about 250 French and Indians; and we afterwards
had an account from the enemy that their loss in
this action, of those killed and who afterwards died
of their wounds, amounted to 116 men.

Both the officers and soldiers I had the honour
to command, who survived the first onset, behaved
with the most undaunted bravery and resolution and
seemed to vie with each other in their respective
stations who should excel.

[33]

The following is the RETURN which was made of the
Killed, Wounded, and Missing, in the above action,

viz.

Capt. Robert Rogers

Wounded

if

Mr. Baker, Volunteer

Killed

1*

Mr. Gardner, ditto

ditto

cS

Thomas Henson

ditto

1

Sergeant Martin

ditto

5

Thomas Burnside

ditto

Sergeant Henry

Missing

William Morris -

-

ditto

_

3

John Morrison

ditto

4

Joseph Stephens

ditto

"B

Benjamin Woodall

c "~"~~

ditto

I 1

David Kemble

ditto

5

Ensign Caleb Page

ditto

F

David Page

ditto

1

Sergeant Jon. Howard

ditto

-3
.

Phineas Kemp

ditto

1

John Edmonds

ditto

ffl

Thomas Farmer

ditto

3

Emanuel Lapart&Quer

ditto

^

Capt. Spikeman

ditto

i

Lieut. Kennedy

ditto

!

Robert Avery

ditto

g

Thomas Brown

ditto

iL

Samuel Fisk

ditto

Sergeant Moore

ditto

John Cahall

ditto

Total -

14

6

6

N. B. Those returned as Missing, we afterwards found, had
been taken prisoners by the enemy.

[34]

Having laid this return before Major Sparks, com-
manding officer at Fort Edward, he transmitted the
same to the General; and the 30th of January follow-
ing. I wrote to Capt. James Abercrombie, then at
Albany, recommending such officers as I thought
most deserving to fill up the vacancies occasioned by
our late action, among whom were Lieutenant Stark
to be Captain of Spikeman's company and Sergeant
Joshua Martin to be Ensign in Captain Richard
Roger's company; and I also mentioned several
things in favour of the Rangers. In consequence I
received the following answer.

Dear Sir, Albany, Feb. 6, 1957.

The General received your letter that was sent
by Major Sparks, and returns you and your men
thanks for their behavior, and has recommended
both you and them strongly to my Lord Loudoun, as
also that they have payment for the prisoners they
took. Upon receiving an account of your skirmish
we sent an express to Boston, and by the said op-
portunity, recommended, for Spikeman's company,
your brother* for a Lieutenant. We expect the ex-
press back in a day or two, by whom, I dare say, we
shall have my Lord's approbation of the Rangers.
Please to send me the names of the officers you would
recommend for your own company and also to fill
up the vacancies in the others; as I am certain you
have the good of the service at heart, your recom-
mendation will be paid great regard to. I yesterday
received your's of the 30th of January. You cannot

* James Rogers.

[35]

imagine how all ranks of people here are pleased
with your conduct and your men's behavior; of my
part, it is more than I expected: I was so pleased with
their appearance when I was out with them that
I took it for granted they would behave well when-
ever they met the enemy. When I returned I reported
them as such, and am glad they have answered my
expectation.

I am heartily sorry for Spikeman and Kennedy,
who I imagined would have turned out well, as like-
wise for the men you have lost; but it is impossible to
play at bowls without meeting with rubs. We must
try to revenge the loss of them. There are few people
that will believe it; but, upon honour, I could be
glad to have been with you that I might have learned
the manner of fighting in this country. The chance
of being shot is all stuff, and King William's opinion
and principle is much the best for a soldier, viz. "that
"every bullet has its billet," and that "it is allotted
how every man shall die;" so that I am certain that
every one will agree that it is better to die with the
reputation of a brave man fighting for his country
in a good cause, than either shamefully running away
to preserve one's life or lingering out an old age
and dying in one's bed without having done his
country or his King any service.

The histories of this country particularly are full
of the unheard of cruelties committed by the French
and the Indians, by their instigation, which I think
every brave man ought to do his utmost to humble
that haughty nation or reduce their bounds of con-
quest in this country to a narrow limit. As soon as
General Abercromby receives my Lord's instructions
in regard to the Rangers, I shall send you notice of it;

[86]

in the interim, I hope you'll get the better of your
wound. If I can be of any service to you or your men
as long as they continue to behave so well, you may
command

Your most humble servant,

To Capt. James Abercrombie,

Robert Rogers. Aid-de-Camp.

My wound growing worse, I was obliged to repair
to Albany for better assistance, and there received the
following instructions from General Abercromby,
viz.

Instructions for Capt. ROBERT ROGERS.

His excellency the Earl pf Loudoun having given
authority to me to augment the company of Rangers
under your command, to 100 men each, viz.

One Captain, }

Two Lieutenants, > upon an English pay;

One Ensign, )

Four Sergeants at 4s. each, New York currency;

100 private men, at 2s. and 6d. each ditto per day;

And whereas there are some private men of your
company serving at present upon higher pay than
above establishment, you are at liberty to discharge
them in case they refuse to serve at the said establish-
ment as soon as you have other men to replace them.
If your men agree to remain with you and serve
upon the above establishment, you may assure them
they will be taken notice of, and be first provided
for; each man to be allowed ten dollars bounty
money, and to find their own clothes, arms, and

[37]

blankets, and to sign a paper subjecting themselves
to the rules and articles of war, and to serve during
the war. You are to enlist no vagrants, but such as
you and your officers are acquainted with and* who
are every way qualified for the duty of Rangers; and
you and your officers are to use your best endeavours
to complete your companies as soon as possible and
bring them to Fort Edward.

James Abercromby
Major General.

** About this time I again wrote to his Lordship,
earnestly soliciting his friendly interposition and
assistance to obtain from the government here an
order for payment of what* was due to me and my
men for our respective services during the winter
1755; but if that could not be obtained, that he
would be pleased to direct me what method -to take
for recovery thereof . 'Whereto his Lordship replied
that as these services were antecedent to his command
here, it was not in his power to reward them} Gen-
eral Amherst afterwards, on a like application, gave
me much the same answer.

These applications not being attended with* any
success, and suits of law being afterwards commenced
against me by and on the behalf of those who served
under me in that campaign and verdicts obtained in
their favour, I was not only obliged to answer their
several demands, to the amount of 828: 3: 3 sterling,
which I paid out of my private fortune, but also a
considerable sum for law charges, exclusive of what
I ought to have received for my own services during
that severe season. But for all which I have not at
any time since received one shilling consideration.

[38]

In the same letter likewise informed his Lordship
of the death of Capt. Hobbs of the Rangers who died
a few days before, and recommended Lieutenant
Bulkley of the same company as a proper person to
succeed him in that command.

March 5, I was taken ill with the small pox, and
not able to leave my room till the 15th of April
following during which time my officers were recruit-
ing agreeable to his Lordship's instructions. Not long
after I received the following letter from Capt.
Abercrombie.

Sir, New York, April 22, 1757.

As there is another ranging company sent up to
Albany with orders to proceed to the forts, you will
acquaint Colonel Gage that it is my Lord Loudoun's
orders that the two companies at Fort William Henry
and your own from Fort Edward come down im-
mediately to Albany, to be ready to embark for this
place. Show this letter to Colonel Gage that he may
acquaint Colonel Monro of his Lordship's orders and
that quarters may be provided for your companies
in the houses about Albany. You will take particular
care that the companies have provided themselves
with all necessaries, and see that they are complete
and good men. Since his Lordship has put it in your
charge, I hope you will be very diligent in executing
the trust, for, upon a review of the men, if any are
found insufficient for the service, the blame will be
laid upon you. If the officers of this ranging company
that is gone up are not acquainted with the woods
about Fort William Henry, your brother must send

[39]

some officers and men of his company along with
them to let them know the different scouts.

I am, Sir,
Your most humble servant,

To Capt. James Abercrombie

Robert Rogers, Aid-de-Camp.

at Albany.

Capt. Richard Rogers, with his own and the new
company of Rangers before mentioned, which was
raised in the Jerseys, and commanded by Capt
Bui-gin, being left at Fort William Henry, my own
company from Fort Edward, and Capt. Stark's and
Capt. Bulkley's from Fort William Henry, agreeable
to the above instructions, marched down to Albany,
and from thence embarked for New York where we
were joined by another new raised company of
Rangers under the command of Capt. Shephard from
New Hampshire, and after some small stay there,
reembarked on board a transport, and left Sandy
Hook on the 20th of June, with a fleet of near a
hundred sail bound to Halifax where we soon ar-
rived, and, according to orders, I encamped on the
Dartmouth side of the harbour while the army lay
encamped on the Halifax side. The Rangers were
here employed in various services.

On July 3d, by orders, I commanded a party to
Lawrence Town and from thence to Cheezetcook;
some were left there to cut and make up hay in the
meadows for the horses intended to be used in an
expedition to Louisbouzg were dispatched en scouts
to make discoveries; in one of which two deserters

[40]

from the 45th regiment were seized and brought in.

About the latter end of this month forty Rangers
were sent across the isthmus of Nova Scotia to the
settlements on the Bay of Fundy, and a party down
to the north-west arm to scour the woods for deserters,
See. and brought in several, both from the army and
navy.

About this time Admiral Melbourne arrived with
a fleet from England, with several regiments of regu-
lar troops on board, which were landed and likewise
encamped at Halifax, upon which all scouting
parties were called in; but certain intelligence being
received that a French fleet of superior force had
actually arrived at Louisburg, the intended expedi-
tion against that place rtas laid aside, and thereupon
the Rangers were remanded back to the western
frontiers.

Great numbers of the Rangers having been carried
off this summer by the smallpox, I sent several of my
officers, by his Lordship's command, to recruit in
New Hampshire and the Massachusetts provinces
with orders to join me at Albany. I afterwards em-
barked with the Rangers under my command on
board the fleet which carried the regular troops to
New York, and from thence proceeded in small
vessels up the Hudson River to Albany, where I was
soon after joined by the new-raised recruits.

I then proceeded to Fort Edward, which was the
only remaining cover to the northern frontiers of
New York and the more eastern provinces, Fort
William Henry* having been taken by the French,

* My brother Captain Richard Rogers died with the small
pox a few days before this fort was besieged; but such was the
cruelty and rage of the enemy after their conquest that they

[41]

under the command of Monsieur Montcalm, the
August before. General Webb was then commanding
officer at Fort Edward, and by his orders we were
continually employed in patrolling the woods be-
tween this fort and Ticonderoga. In one of these
parties, my Lord Howe did us the honour to ac-
company us, being fond, as he expressed himself, to
learn our method of marching, ambushing, retreating,
&c. and upon our return expressed his good opinion
of us very generously.

About this time Lord Loudoun sent the following
volunteers in the regular troops, to be trained to the
ranging, or wood-service, under my command and
inspection; with particular orders to me to instruct
them to the utmost of my power in the ranging disci-
pline, our methods of marching, retreating, ambush-
ing, fighting, &c. that they might be the better
qualified for any future services against the enemy we
had to contend with, desiring me to take particular
notice of each one's behavior, and to recommmend
them according to their several deserts, viz.

Walter Crofton "] , A , _ .

Mr.Lyshat 1 <> *e 4th Regunent

Mr. Roberts J oFoot -

Charles Humbles
Richard Edlington
Andrew Crawley
Thomas Millet

, of the 22d ditto.

dug him up out of his grave and scalped him. In consequence
of the articles of capitulation at the surrender of this fort, the
two companies of Rangers there were disbanded and dismissed
the service.

John Wilcox
John Wrightson
Michael Kent
Mr. Monf el
Francis Creed

Alexander Robertson
William Frazier
John Graham
Andrew Ross
William Frazier, jun.
Archibald Campbell
Arch. Campbell, jun.
Angus. Campbell
Charles Menzles
John Robertson

Will. Ervin, or Irwin
Thomas Drought
William Drought
Francis Carruthers
John Clarke

Walter Paterson
Mr. Nicholson
Richard Boyce
Charles Perry

Mr. Christopher
Mr. Still
Mr. Hamilton
Mr. Young

Allen Grant
Jonathan M'Dougal
Mr. Frisborough

[42]

of the 27th ditto.

of the 42d ditto.

of the 44th ditto.

of the 4th ditto.

of the 55th ditto.

of the second batta-
lion of Royal
Americans

Nicholas Ward
James Hill

John Schloser
Geoige Wardoman
Francis Barnard
Engelbertus Horst
Ericke Reinhault
Andrew Wackerberg
Luhainsans Dekesar
Donald M'Bean
Henry Ven Bebber
John Boujour

Edward Graf ton
James Pottinger
Simon Stephens
Archibald M'Donald
Hugh Sterling
Mr. Bridge

[43]
j- of the 3d ditto.

of the 4th ditto.

Rangers.

These volunteers I formed into a company by
themselves, and took the more immediate command
and management of them to myself; and for their
benefit and instruction reduced into writing the
following rules or plan of discipline, which, on
xarioqs occasions, I had found by experience to be
necessary and advantageous, viz.

I. All Rangers are to be subject to the rules and
articles of war; to appear at roll-call every evening
on their own parade, equipped each with a firelock,
sixty rounds of powder and ball, and a hatchet, at
which time an officer from each company is to
inspect the same, to see they are in order, so as to be

[44]

ready on any emergency to march at a minute's
warning; and before they are dismissed the necessary
guards are to be drafted, and scouts for the next day
appointed.

II. Whenever you are ordered out to the enemy's
forts or frontiers for discoveries, if your number be
small, march in a single file, keeping at such a dis-
tance from each other as to prevent one shot from
killing two men, sending one man, or more, forward,
and the like on each side, at the distance of twenty
yards from the main body, if the ground you march
over will admit of it, to give the signal to the officer
of the approach of an enemy, and of their number,
Sec.

III. If you march over marshes or soft ground,
change your position, and march abreast of each
other, to prevent the enemy from tracking you (as
they would do if you marched in a single file) till
you get over such ground, and then resume your
former order, and march rill it is quite dark before
you encamp, which do, if possible, on a piece of
ground that may afford your sentries the advantage
of seeing or hearing the enemy at some considerable
distance, keeping one half of your whole party awake
alternately through the night.

IV. Some time before you come to the place you
would reconnoitre, make a stand, and send one or
two men in whom you can confide, to look out the
best ground for making your observations.

V. If you have the good fortune to take any pris-
oners, keep them separate till they are examined, and

[45]

in your return take a different route from that in
which you went out, that you may the better discover
any party in your rear, and have an opportunity, if
their strength be superior to yours, to alter your
course, or disperse, as circumstances may require.

VI. If you march in a large body of three or four
hundred, with a design to attack the enemy, divide
your party into three columns, each headed by a
proper officer, and let these columns march in single
files, the columns to the right and left keeping at
twenty yards distance or more from that of the
center, if the ground will admit, and let proper
guards be kept in the front and rear, and suitable
flanking parties at a due distance as before directed,
with orders to halt on all eminences, to take a view
of the surrounding ground, to prevent your being
ambushed, and to notify the approach or retreat
of the enemy, that proper dispositions may be made
for attacking, defending, &c. And if the enemy ap-
proach in your front on level ground, form a front of
your three columns or main body with the advanced
guard, keeping out your flanking parties, as if you
were marching under the command of trusty officers,
to prevent the enemy from pressing hard on either
of your wings, or surrounding you, which is the usual
method of the savages, if their number will admit
of it, and be careful likewise to support and strength-
en your rear guard.

VII. If you are obliged to receive the enemy's fire,
fall, or squat down, till it is over, then rise and di*-
charge at them. If their main body is equal to yours,
extend yourselves ocasionally; but if superior, be

[46]

careful to support and strengthen your flanking
parties, to make them equal with theirs, that if
possible you may repulse them to their main body,
in which case push upon them with the greatest
resolution, with equal force in each flank and in the
center, observing to keep at a due distance from
each other, and advance from tree to tree, with one
half of the party before the other ten or twelve yards.
If the enemy push upon you, let your front fire and
fall down, and then let your rear advance thro' them
and do the like, by which time those who before were
in front will be ready to discharge again, and repeat
the same alternately, as occasion shall require; by
this means you will keep up such a constant fire, that
the enemy will not be able easily to break your order,
or gain your ground.

VEIL If you oblige the enemy to retreat, be care-
ful, in your pursuit of them, to keep out your flanking
parties, and prevent them from gaming eminences,
or rising grounds, in which case they would perhaps
be able to rally and repulse in their turn.

IX. If you are obliged to retreat, let the front of
your whole party fire and fall back, till the rear has
done the same, making for the best ground you can;
by this means you will oblige the enemy to pursue
you, if they do it at all, in the face of a constant fire.

X. If the enemy is so superior that you are in
danger of being surrounded by them, let the whole
body disperse, and every one take a different road
to the place of rendezvous appointed for that eve-
ning, which must every morning be altered and fixed

[47]

for the evening ensuing, in order to bring the whole
party, or as many of them as possible, together, after
any separation that may happen in the day; but if
you should happen to be actually surrounded, form
yourselves into a square, or if in the woods, a circle
is best, and, if possible, make a stand till the darkness
of the night favours your escape.

XI. If your rear is attacked, the main body and
flankers must face about to the right or left, as occa-
sion shall require, and form themselves to oppose
the enemy, as before directed; and the same method
must be observed, if attacked in either of your flanks,
by which means you will always make a rear of one
of your flank-guards.

XII. If you determine to rally after a retreat, in
order to make a fresh stand against the enemy, by
all means endeavour to do it cm the most rising
ground you can come at, which will give you greatly
the advantage in point of situation, and enable you
to repulse superior numbers.

XIII. In general, when pushed upon by the
enemy, reserve your fire till they approach very near,
which will then put them into the greater surprise
and consternation, and give you an opportunity of
rushing upon them with your hatchets and cutlasses
to the better advantage.

XIV. When you encamp at night, fix your sentries
in such a manner as not to be relieved bom the
main body till morning, profound secrecy and silence
being often of the last importance in these cases.
Each sentry, therefore, should consist of six men,

[48]

two of whom must be constantly alert, and when
relieved by their fellows, it should be done without
noise; and in case those on duty see or hear any
thing, which alarms them, they are not to speak, but
one of them is silently to retreat, and acquaint the
commanding officer thereof, that proper dispositions
may be made; and all occasional sentries should be
fixed in like manner.

XV. At the first dawn of day, awake your whole
detachment; that being the time when the savages
choose to fall upon their enemies, you should by all
means be in readiness to receive them.

XVI. If the enemy should be discovered by your
detachments in the morning, and their numbers are
superior to yours, and a victory doubtful, you should
not attack them till the evening; as then they will not
know your numbers, and if you are repulsed, your
retreat will be favoured by the darkness of the night.

XVII. Before you leave your encampment, send
out small parties to scout round it, to see if there
be any appearance or track of an enemy that might
have been near you during the night.

XVIII. When you stop for refreshment, choose
some spring or rivulet if you can, and dispose your
party so as not to be surprised, posting proper guards
and sentries at a due distance, and let a small party
waylay the path you came in, lest the enemy should
be pursuing.

XIX. If, in your return, you have to cross rivers,
avoid the usual fords as much as possible, lest the

[49]

enemy should have discovered, and be there expect-
ing you.

XX. If you have to pass by lakes, keep at some
distance from the edge of the water, lest, in case of
an ambuscade, or an attack from the enemy, when
in that situation, your retreat should be cut off.

XXI. If the enemy pursue your rear, take a circle
till you come to your own tracks, and there form
an ambush to receive them, and give them the first
fire.

XXII. When you return from a scout, and come
near our forts, avoid the usual roads, and avenues
thereto, lest the enemy should have headed you, and
lay in ambush to receive you, when almost ex-
hausted with fatigues.

XXIII. When you pursue any party that has been
near our forts or encampments, follow not directly
in their tracks, lest you should be discovered by
their rear guards, who, at such a time, would be
most alert; but endeavour, by a different route, to
head and meet them in some narrow pass, or lay in
ambush to receive them when and where they least
expect it.

XXIV. If you are to embark in canoes, bateaux,
or otherwise, by water, choose the evening for the
time of your embarkation, as you will then have the
whole night before you, to pass undiscovered by any
parties of the enemy, on hills, or other places, which
command a prospect of the lake or river you are
upon.

[50]

XXV. In paddling or rowing, give orders that the
boat or canoe next the sternmost, wait for her, and
the third for the second, and the fourth for the third,
and so on, to prevent separation, and that you may
be ready to assist each other on any emergency.

XXVI. Appoint one man in each boat to look
out for fires, on the adjacent shores, from the num-
bers and size of which you may form some judgment
of the number that kindled them, and whether you
are able to attack them or not.

XXVII. If you find the enemy encamped near the
banks of a river, or lake, which you imagine they
will attempt to cross for their security upon being
attacked, leave a detachment of your party on the
opposite shore to receive them, while, with the re-
mainder, you surprise them, having them between
you and the lake or river.

XXVIII. If you cannot satisfy yourself as to the
enemy's number and strength, from their fire, &c
conceal your boats at some distance, and ascertain
their number by a reconnoitring party, when they
embark, or march, in the morning, marking the
course they steer, &c. when you may pursue, ambush,
and attack them, or let them pass, as prudence shall
direct you. In general, however, that you may not
be discovered by the enemy on the lakes and rivers
at a great distance, it is safest to lay by, with your
boals and party concealed all day, without noise or
show, and to pursue your intended route by night;
and whether you go by land or water, give out
parole and countersigns, in order to know one an-

[51]

other in the dark, and likewise appoint a station
for every man to repair to, in case of any accident
that may separate you.

Such in general are the rules to be observed in the
Ranging service; there are, however, a thousand oc-
currences and circumstances which may happen that
will make it necessary in some measure to depart
from them and to put other arts and stratagems in
practice; in which cases every man's reason and
judgment must be his guide, according to the par-
ticular situation and nature of things; and that he
may do this to advantage, he should keep in mind
a maxim never to be departed from by a command-
er, viz. to preserve a firmness and presence of mind
on every occasion.

My Lord Loudoun about this time made a visit
to Fort Edward, and after giving directions for quar-
tering the army the approaching winter, left a strong
garrison there under the command of Colonel Havi-
land, and returned to Albany. The Rangers,* with
the before mentioned volunteers, were encamped
and quartered in huts on an adjacent island in the
Hudson River, and were sent out on various scouts,
in which my ill state of health at this time would
not permit me to accompany them, till December
17, 1757, when, pursuant to orders from Lieutenant
Colonel Haviland, commanding officer at Fort Ed-
ward, I marched from thence with a party of 150

Several of them were dismissed with an allowance of
thirteen days pay to carry them home, being rendered unfit
for immediate service by their past fatigues, and several officers
were sent recruiting in order to have the companies complete
by the opening of the spring.

[52]

men to reconnoitre Carillon, alias Ticonderoga, and
if possible to take a prisoner. We marched six miles
and encamped, the snow being then about three
inches deep, and before morning it was fifteen: we
however pursued our route.

On the 18th in the morning, eight of my party
being tired, returned to the fort; with the remainder
I marched nine miles further, and encamped on the
west side of Lake George, near the place where
Mons. Montcalm landed his troops when he besieged
and took Fort William Henry, where I found some
cannon ball and shells which had been hid by the
French, and made a mark by which I might find
them again.

The 19th we continued our march on the west
side of the lake nine miles further, near the head
of the north-west bay.

The 21st, so many of my party tired and returned
as reduced our number to 123, officers included, with
whom I proceeded ten miles further, and encamped
at night, ordering each man to leave a day's pro-
visions there till our return.

The next day "we marched ten miles further, and
encamped near the great brook that runs into Lake
GetHge, eight miles from the French advanced guard.

The 23d we marched eight miles, and the 24th
six more, and then halted within 600 yards of
Carillon fort. Near the mills we discovered five
Indians' trades, that had marched that way the day
before, as we supposed, on a hunting party. On my
march this day between the advanced guard and
the fort, I appointed three places of rendezvous to
repair to in case of being broke in an action, and
acquainted every officer and soldier that I should

[53]

rally the party at the nearest post to the fort, and
if broke there to retreat to the second, and at the
third to make a stand till the darkness of the night
would give us an opportunity to get off. Soon after
I halted, I formed an ambush on a road leading from
the fort to the woods with an advanced party o
twenty men and a rear guard of fifteen. About eleven
o'clock a sergeant of marines came from the fort up
the road to my advanced party who let him pass to
the main body where I made him prisoner. Upon
examination, he reported,

"that there were in the garrison 350 regulars, about
"fifty workmen, and but five Indians: that they had
"plenty of provisions, fee. and that twelve masons
"were constantly employed id blowing up rocks in
"the entrenchment, and a number of soldiers to
"assist them: that at Crown Point there were 150
"soldiers and fourteen Indians: that Mons. Mont-
"calm was at Montreal: that 500 Ottawas Indians
"wintered in Canada, and that 500 Rangers were
"lately raised in Canada, each man having a double-
barrelled fusee, and put under an experienced
"officer well acquainted with the country: that he
"did not know whether the French intended to
"attack any of the English forts this winter or not;
"but that they expected a great number of Indians
"as soon as the ice would bear them in order to go
"down to the English forts; and that all the bakers
"in Carillon were employed in baking biscuit for
"the scouts above mentioned."

About noon, a Frenchman, who had been hunt-
ing, came near my party in his return, when I
ordered a party to pursue him to the edge of the
cleared ground and take him prisoner with this

caution, to shoot off a gun or two and then retreat
to the main body in order to entice the enemy from
their fort; which orders were punctually obeyed, but
not one of them ventured out.

The last prisoner, on examination, gave much
the same account as the other, but with this addi-
tion, "that he had heard the English intended to
"attack Ticonderoga as soon as the lake was frozen
"so as to bear them."

When I found the French would not come out
of the fort, we went about killing their cattle and
destroyed seventeen head, and set fire to the wood
which they had collected for the use of the garrison,
and consumed five large piles; the French shot off
some cannon at the fires, but did us no harm. At
eight o'clock at night I began my march homewards,
and arrived at Fort Edward with my prisoners the
27th. In my return, I found at the north end of
Lake George where the French had hidden the boats
they had taken at Fort William Henry, with a great
number of cannon balls; but as the boats were
under water we could not destroy them. Upon my
return to Fort Edward, I received a letter from
Captain Abercrombie, informing me that the Earl
of Loudoun, who was then at New York, had
thoughts of augmenting the Rangers, and had de-
sired General Abercromby to command me down
to his directions. I accordingly prepared for my
journey, and upon my arrival was received by his
Lordship in a very friendly manner; and, after much
conversation upon the subject, he was pleased to
inform me of his intentions of levying five addi-
tional companies of Rangers, desiring me to name

[55]

the persons whom I thought fit for officers, and such
as might be depended upon, to levy the men his
Lordship desired; which I accordingly did, and then
received from him the following instructions.

By his Excellency John Earl of Loudoun, Lord
Machline and Tairenseen &c &c. &c one of the
sixteen peers of Scotland, Governor and Captain
General of Virginia, and Vice Admiral of the
same, Colonel of the 13th Regiment of foot,
Colonel in chief of the Royal American regiment,
Major General and Coanmander-in-Chief of all
his Majesty's forces, raised or to be raised in North
America:

Whereas I have this day thought proper to aug-
ment the Rangers with five additional companies,
that is, four New England and one Indian company,
to be forthwith raised and employed in his Majesty's
service; and whereas I have an entire confidence in
your skill and knowledge of the men most fit for
that service; I do therefore, by these presents, ap-
point you to raise such a number of non-commis-
sioned officers and private men as will be necessary
to complete the said five companies upon the fol-
lowing establishment, viz. each company to consist
of one Captain, two Lieutenants, one Ensign, four
Sergeants, and 100 privates. The officers to have
British pay, that is, the same as an officer of the like
rank in his Majesty's regular forces; the Sergeants
4s. New York currency per day, and the private men
2s. 6cL currency per day. And the better to enable
you to make this levy of men, you shall have one

[56]

month's pay for each of the said five companies ad-
vanced to you; upon these conditions, that, out of
the first warrants that shall hereafter be granted for
the subsistence of these companies, shall be deducted
the said month's pay now advanced. Your men to
find their own arms which must be such as upon
examination shall be found fit and be approved of.
They are likewise to provide themselves with good
warm clothing which must be uniform in every
company, and likewise with good warm blankets.
And the company of Indians to be dressed in all
respects in the true Indian fashion, and they are all
to be subject to the rules and articles of war. You
will forthwith acquaint the officers appointed to
these companies, that they are immediately to set
out on the recruiting service, and you will not fail
to instruct them that they are not to enlist any man
for a less term than one year, nor any but what are
able-bodied, well acquainted with the woods, used
to hunting; and every way qualified for the Ranging
service. You are also to observe that the number of
men requisite to complete the said five companies
are all to be at Fort Edward on or before the 15th
day of March next ensuing, and those that shall
come by the way of Albany are to be mustered there
by the officer commanding; as shall those who go
straight to Fort Edward by the officer commanding
there. Given under my hand, at New York, the llth
day of January 1758.

LOUDOUN.

By his Excellency's command,

To Capt. j. APFY.

Robert Rogers.

[57]

In pursuance of the above instructions, I unmet**,
ately sent officers into the New England provinces,
where, by the assistance of my friend, the requested
augmentation of Rangers was quickly completed,
the whole five companies being ready for service by
the 4th day of March.

Four of these companies were sent to Louisbourgv
to join General Amherst, and one joined the corps
under my command; and tho'l was at the whole
expense of raising the five companies, I never got
the least allowance for it, and one of the Captains
dying, to whom I had delivered a thousand dollars
as advance pay for his company, which, agreeable
to the instructions I received, I had a right to do,
yet was I obliged to account with the government for
this money and entirely lost every penny of *it^

It has already been mentioned that the garrison at
Fort Edward was this winter under the command of
Lieut. Col. HavilancL This gentleman, about the
28th of February, ordered out a scout under the
direction of one Putnam, Captain of a company of
one of the Connecticut provincial regiments, with
some of my men, giving out publicly at the same
time that, upon Putnam's return, I should be sent to
the French forts with a strong party of 400 Rangers.
This was known not only to all the officers but
soldiers also at Fort Edward before Putnam's de-
parture.

While this party was out, a servant of Mr. Best,
a sutler to the Rangers, was captured by a flying
party of the enemy from Ticonderoga; unfortu-
nately too one of Putnam's men had left bm at
Lake George and deserted to the enemy. Upon Cap-
tain Putnam's return, we were informed he had

ventured within eight miles of the French fort at
Ticonderoga, and that a party he had sent to make
discoveries had reported to him that there were near
600 Indians not far from the enemy's quarters.

March 10, 1758. Soon after the said Captain
Putnam's return, in consequence of positive orders
from Col. Haviland, I this day began a march from
Fort Edward for the neighbourhood of Carillon, not
with a party of 400 men as at first given out but of
180 men only, officers included, one Captain, one
Lieutenant, and "one Ensign, and three volunteers,
viz. Messrs. Creed, Kent and Wrightson, one ser-
geant, and one private, all volunteers of the 27th
Regiment; and a detachment from the four com-
panies of Rangers quartered on the island near Fort
Edward, viz. Capt. Bulkley, Lieutenants Philips,
Moore, Crafton, Campbell, and Pottinger; Ensigns
Ross, Wait, M'Donald, and White, and 162 private
men. I acknowledge I entered upon this service and
viewed this small detachment of brave men march
out with no little concern and uneasiness of mind;
for as there was the greatest reason to suspect that the
French were, by the prisoner and deserter above
mentioned, fully informed of the design of sending
me out upon Putnam's return: what could I thinkl
to see my party, instead of being strengthened and
augmented, reduced to less than one half of the
number at first proposed. I must confess it appeared
to me (ignorant and unskilled as I then was in poli-
tics and the arts of war) incomprehensible; but my
commander doubtless has his reasons and is able to
vindicate his own conduct. We marched to the half-
way brook in the road leading to Lake George and
there encamped the first night.

[59]

The llth we proceeded as far as the first Narrows
on Lake George and encamped that evening on the
east side of the lake; and after dark I sent a party
three miles further down to see if the enemy might
be coming towards our forts, but they returned with-
out discovering any. We were however on our guard,
and kept parties walking on the lake all night, be-
sides sentries at all necessary places on the land.

The 12th we marched from our encampment at
sunrise, and having distanced it about three miles,
I saw a dog running across the lake whereupon I sent
a detachment to reconnoitre the island, thinking the
Indians might have laid in ambush there for us; but
no such could be discovered; upon which I thought
it expedient to put to shore, and lay by till night to
prevent any party from descrying us on the lake,
from hills or otherwise. We halted at a place called
Sabbath Day Point on the west side of the lake, and
sent out parties to look down the lake with per-
spective glasses which we had for that purpose. As
soon as it was dark we proceeded down the lake.
I sent Lieutenant Phillips with fifteen men as an
advanced guard some of whom went before him on
skates while Ensign Ross flanked us on the left under
the west shore, near which we kept the main body
marching as close as possible to prevent separation,
it being a very dark night. In this manner we con-
tinued our march till within eight miles of the
French advanced guards, when Lieutenant Philips
sent a man on skates back to me to desire me to halt;
upon which I ordered my men to squat down upon
the ice. Mr. Philips soon came to me himself, leaving
his party to look out, and said, he imagined he had

[60]

discovered a fire* on the east shore but was not
certain; upon which I sent with him Ensign White,
to make further discovery. In about an hour they
returned, fully persuaded that a party of the enemy
was encamped there. I then called in the advanced
guard and flanking party, and marched on to the
west shore where in a thicket we hid our sleds and
packs, leaving a small guard with them, and with
the remainder I marched to attack the enemy's en-
campment, if there was any; but when we came
near the place, no fires were to be seen, which made
us conclude that we had mistaken some bleach
patches of snow, or pieces of rotten wood, for fire
(which in the night, at a distance, resembles it)
whereupon we returned' to our packs, and there lay
the remainder of the night without fire.

The 13th, in the morning I deliberated with the
officers how to proceed, who were unanimously of
opinion that it was best to go by land in snowshoes
lest the enemy should discover us on the lake; we
accordingly continued our march on the west side,
keeping on the back of the mountain that over-
looked the French advance guards. At twelve of the
dock we halted two miles west of those guards, and
there refreshed ourselves till three, that the day-
scout from the fort might be returned home before
we advanced; intending at night to ambuscade some
of their roads in order to entrap them in the morning.
We then marched in two divisions, the one headed
by Captain Bulkley, the other by myself: Ensigns

* A small party of the French, as we have since heard, had
a fire here at this time; but, discovering my advanced party
extinguished their fire, andjamed the news of our approach
to the French fort. rr

[61]

White and Wait had the rear guard the other officers
were posted properly in each division, having a
rivulet at a small distance on our left and a steep
mountain on our right. We kept close to the moun-
tain that the advance guard might better observe
the rivulet, on the ice of which I imagined they
would travel if out, as the snow was four feet deep
and very bad travelling on snowshoes. In this manner
we marched a mile and a half, when our advanced
guard informed me of the enemy being in their
view; and soon after, that they had ascertained their
number to be ninety-six, chiefly Indians. We im-
mediately laid down our packs, and prepared for
battle, supposing there to be the whole number or
main body of the enemy,, who were marching on
our left up the rivulet upon the ice. I ordered Ensign
M'Donald to the command of the advanced guard
which, as we faced to the left, made a flanking party
to our right. We marched to within a few yards of the
bank which was higher than the ground we oc-
cupied; and observing the ground gradually to
descend from the bank of the rivulet to the foot of
the mountain, we extended our party along the bank
far enough to command the whole of the enemy's
at once; we waited till their front was nearly opposite
to our left wing when I fired a gun as a signal for a
general discharge upon them; whereupon we gave
them the first fire which killed above forty Indians;
the rest retreated and were pursued by about one
half of our people. I now imagined the enemy totally
defeated, and ordered Ensign M'Donald to head
the flying remains of them that none might escape;
but we soon found our mistake, and that the party
we had attacked were only their advance guard, their

[62]

main body coming up, consisting of 600 more, Cana-
dians and Indians; upon which I ordered our people
to their own ground, which we gained at the ex-
pense of fifty men killed; the remainder I rallied,
and drew up in pretty good order, where they fought
with such intrepidity and bravery as obliged the
enemy (tho' seven to one in number) to retreat a
second time; but we not being in a condition to
pursue them, they rallied again, and recovered their
ground, and warmly pushed us in front and both
wings, while the mountain defended our rear; but
they were so warmly received that their flanking
parties soon retreated to their main body with consi-
derable loss. This threw the whole again into dis-
order, and they retreated a third time; but our
number being now too far reduced to take advantage
of their disorder, they rallied again, and made a
fresh attack upon us. About this time we discovered
200 Indians going up the mountain on our right, as
we supposed, to get possession of the rising ground
and attack our rear; to prevent which I sent Lieuten-
ant Philips with eighteen men to gain the first posses-
sion and beat them back; which he did: and being
suspicious that the enemy would go round on our
left and take possession of the other part of the
hill, I sent Lieutenant Crafton with fifteen men to
prevent them there; and soon after desired two
Gentlemen who were volunteers in the party,* with

* I had before this desired these Gentlemen to retire, offer-
ing them a Sergeant to conduct them; that as they were not
used 10 snowshoes, and were quite unacquainted with the
woods, they would have no chance of escaping the enemy in
case we should be broke and put to flight, which I very much
suspected. They at first seemed to accept the offer, and began
to retire; but seeing us so closely beset, they undauntedly re-

[63]

a few men to go and support him, which they did
with great bravery.

The enemy pushed us so dose in front that the
parties were not more than twenty yards asunder
in general and sometimes intermixed with each other.
The fire continued almost constant for an hour and a
half from the beginning of the attack, in which time
we lost eight officers and more than 100 private men
killed on the spot. We were at last obliged to break,
and I with about twenty men ran up the hill to
Philips and Crafton, where we flopped and fired on
the Indians who were eagerly pushing us with num-
bers that we could not withstand. Lieutenant Philips
being surrounded by 300 Indians, was at this time
capitulating for himself and party on the other part
of the hill. He spoke to me and said if the enemy
would give them good quarters, he thought it best to
surrender, otherwise that he would fight while he
had one man left to fire a gun.f

I now thought it most prudent to retreat and
bring off with me as many of my party as I possibly
could, which I immediately did; the Indians closely
pursuing us at the same time took several prisoners.
We came to Lake George in the evening, where we
found several wounded men whom we took with us
to the place where we had left our sleds, from whence
I sent an express to Fort Edward, desiring Mr. Havi-

turned to our assistance. What befell tire after our flight,
may be seen by a letter from one of the Gentlemen to the
commanding officer, which I have inserted next to this account
of our scout.

fTfais unfortunate officer and his whole party, after they
surrendered upon the strongest assurances of good treatment
from the enemy, were inhumanly tied up to trees and hewn
to pieces in a most barbarous and shocking manner.

[64]

land to send a party to meet us and assist in bringing
in the wounded; with the remainder I tarried there
the whole night, without fire or blankets, and in the
morning we proceeded up the lake, and met with
Captain Stark at Hoop Island, six miles north from
Fort William Henry, and encamped there that night;
the next day being the 15th, in the evening, we ar-
rived at Fort Edward.

The number of the enemy was about 700, 600 of
which were Indians. By the best accounts we could
get, we killed 150 of them and wounded as many
more. I will not pretend to determine what we
should have done had we been 400 or more strong;
but this I am obliged to say of those brave men who
attended me (most of whom are now no more) both
officers and soldiers in their respective stations be-
haved with uncommon resolution and courage; nor
do I know an instance during the whole action in
which I can justly impeach the prudence or good
conduct of any one of them.

The following is a LIST of the Killed,
Missing, ire

The Captain and Lieutenant of his Majesty's regu-
lar troops, volunteers in this party, were taken
prisoners; the Ensign, another volunteer of the
same corps, was killed, as were two volunteers,
and a Sergeant of the said corps, and one private.

Of Capt. Rogers' Company,

Lieut. Moore Killed.

Sergeant Parnell Ditto.

Thirty-six privates Ditto.

[65]

Of Capt. Shepherd's Company,

Two Seigeants Killed

Sixteen privates Ditto

Of Capt. James Rogers' Company,

Ensign M'Donald - Killed.

Of Capt. John Stark's Company,

Two Sergeants Killed.

Fourteen privates Ditto.

Of Capt. Bulkley's Company,

Capt. Bulkley Killed.

Lieut. Potringer Ditto.

Ensign White Ditto.

Forty-seven privates K. and Miss.

Of Capt. William Stark's Company,

Ensign Ross - Killed.

Of Capt. Brewer's Company,

Lieut. Campbell - Killed.

A Gentleman of the army, who was a volunteer on
this party, and who with another fell into the hands
of the French, wrote the following letter, some rime
after, to the officer commanding the regiment they
belonged to at Fort Edward.

Carillon, March 28, 1758.

Dear Sir,

As a flag of truce is daily expected here with an
answer to Monsieur Vaudreuil, I sit down to write
the moment I am able, in order to have a letter ready,

[66]

as no doubt you and our friends at Fort Edward are

anxious to be informed about Mr. and me,

whom probably you have reckoned amongst the
slain in our unfortunate combat of the 13th con-
cerning which at present I shall not be particular;
only to do this justice to those who lost their lives
there, and to those who have escaped, to assure you,
Sir, that such dispositions were formed by the enemy
(who discovered us long enough before), it was
impossible for a party so weak as ours to hope for
even a retreat. Towards the conclusion of the affair,
it was cried from a rising ground on our right, to
retire there; where, after scrambling with difficulty,
as I was unaccustomed to snowshoes, I found Capt.
Rogers, and told him that I saw to retire further
was impossible, therefore earnestly begged we might
collect all the men left and make a stand there. Mr.
, who was with him, was of my opinion and
CapL Rogers also; who therefore desired me to
maintain one side of the hill, whilst he defended
the other. Our parties did not exceed above ten or
twelve in each, and mine was shifting towards the
mountain, leaving me unable to defend my post, or
to labour with them up the hill. In the meantime,
Capt. Rogers with his party came to me, and said
(as did all those with him) that a large body of
Indians had ascended to our rigiht; he likewise added,
what was true, that the combat was very unequal,

that I must retire, and he would give Mr. and

me a Sergeant to conduct us thro* die mountain. No
doubt prudence required us to accept his ofier; but,
besides one of my snowshoes being untied, I knew
myself unable to march as fast as was requisite to
avoid becoming a sacrifice to an enemy we could no

[67]

longer oppose; I therefore begged of him to proceed,
and then leaned against a rock in the path, deter-
mined to submit to a fate I thought unavoidable.
Unfortunately for Mr. his snowshoes were loosened
likewise, which obliged him to determine with me
not to labour in a flight we were both unequal to.
Every instant we expected the savages; but what
induced them to quit this path, in which we actually
saw them, we are ignorant of, unless they changed
it for a shorter to intercept those who had just left
us. By their noise and making a fire, we imagined
they had got the rum in the Rangers packs. This
thought, with the approach of night, gave us the
first hopes of retiring; and when the moon arose,
we marched to the southward along the mountains
about three hours, which brought us to ice, and gave
us reason to hope our difficulties were almost past;
but we knew not we had enemies yet to combat with,
more cruel than the savages we had escaped. We
marched all night, and on the morning of the 14th
found ourselves entirely unacquainted with the ice.
Here we saw a man who came towards us; he was
the servant of CapL Rogers, with whom he had
been oftentimes all over the country, and, with-
out the least hesitation whatsoever, he informed us
we were upon South Bay; that Wood Greek was
just before us; that he knew the way to Fort Anne
extremely well, and would take us to Fort Edward
the next day. Notwithstanding we were disappointed
in our hopes of being upon Lake George, we thought
ourselves fortunate in meeting such a guide, to
whom we gave entire confidence, and which he in
fact confirmed by bringing us to a creek where he
showed the tracks of Indians and the path he said

[68]

they had taken to Fort Anne. After struggling thro'
the snow some hours, we were obliged to halt to
make snowshoes, as Mr. and the guide had left
theirs at arriving upon the ice. Here we remained
all night, without any blankets, no coat, and but a
single waistcoat each, for I gave one of mine to Mr.
, who had laid aside his green jacket in the field,
as I did likewise my furred cap, which became a
mark to the enemy and probably was the cause of
a slight wound in my face; so that I had but a
silk handkerchief on my head, and our fire could
not be large as we had nothing to cut wood with.
Before morning we contrived, with forked sticks and
strings of leather, a son of snowshoes to prevent
sinking entirely; and on the 15th followed our guide
west all day, but he did not fulfil his promise; how-
ever the next day it was impossible to fail: but even
then, the 16th, he was unsuccessful; yet still we were
patient because he seemed well acquainted with the
way for he gave every mountain a name, and showed
us several places where he said his master had either
killed deer or encamped. The ground, or rather the
want of sunshine, made us incline to the south-
ward, from whence by accident we saw ice at several
miles distance to the south-east. I was very certain
that, after marching two days west of South Bay,
Lake George could not lie south-east from us, and
therefore concluded this to be the upper end of
the bay we had left. For this reason, together with
the assurances of our guide, I advised continuing
our course to the west, which must shortly strike Fort

Anne or some other place that we knew. But Mr.

wished to be upon ice at any rate; he was unable to
continue in the snow for the difficulties of our march

[69]

had overcome him. And really, Sir, was I to be
minute in those we had experienced already and
afterwards, they would almost be as tiresome to you
to read, as they were to us to suffer.

Our snowshoes breaking, and scrambling up moun-
tains, and across fallen timber, our nights without
sleep or covering, and but little fire, gathered with
great fatigue, our sustenance mostly water, and the
bark and berries of trees; for all our provisions from
the beginning was only a small Bologna sausage and
a little ginger I happened to have, and which even
now was very much decreased; so that I knew not

how to oppose Mr. 's intreaties; but as our guide

still persisted Fort Anne was near, we concluded
to search a little longer, and if we made no dis-
covery to proceed next day towards the ice; but we
sought in vain, as did our guide the next morning,
tho v he returned, confidently asserting he had dis-
covered fresh proofs that the fort could not be far
off. I confess I was still inclined to follow him, for
I was almost certain the best we could hope from
descending upon this ice to our left, was to throw
ourselves into the hands of the French, and perhaps
not be able to effect even that; but, from the cir-
cumstances I have mentioned, it was a point I must
yield to, which I did with great reluctance. The
whole day of the 17th we marched a dreadful road
between the mountains with but one good snow-
shoe each, the other of our own making being al-
most useless. The 18th brought us to the ice, which
tho r we longed to arrive at, yet I still dreaded the
consequence, and with reason, for the first sight
informed us, it was the very place we had left five
days before. Here I must own my resolution almost

[70]

failed me; when fatigue, cold, hunger, and even
the prospect of perishing in the woods attended us,
I still had hopes, and still gave encouragement, but
now I wanted it myself; we had no resource but to
throw ourselves into the enemy hand's or perish.
We had nothing so eat, our slender stock had been
equally shared amongst us three, and we were not
so fortunate as ever to see either bird or beast to
shoot at. When our first thoughts were a little calmed,
we conceived hopes that, if we appeared before the
French fort with a white flag, the commanding officer
would relieve and return us to Fort Edward. This
served to palliate our nearest approach to despair,
and determined a resolution where, in fact, we had
no choice. I knew Carillon had an extensive view
up South Bay, therefore we concluded to halt during
the evening and march in the night that we might
approach it in the morning, besides the wind pierced
us like a sword; but instead of its abating it in-
creased, together with a freezing rain that encrusted
us entirely with ice and obliged us to remain until
morning, the 19th, when we fortunately got some
jumper berries which revived, gave us spirits, and
I thought strength. We were both so firmly of that
opinion, that we proposed taking the advantage of
its being a dark snowy day to approach Carillon, to
pass it in the night, and get upon Lake George.
With difficulty we persuaded the guide to be of
our opinion, we promised large rewards in vain,
until I assured him of provisions hid upon the lake;
but we little considered how much nature was
exhausted, and how unequal we were to the task:
however, a few miles convinced us as we were soon
midway up our legs in the newfallen snow; it drove

[71]

full in our faces, and was as dark as the fogs upon
the banks of Newfoundland. Our strength and our
hopes sunk together, nay, even those of reaching
Carillon were doubtful, but we must proceed or
perish. As it cleared up a little, we laboured to see
the fort, which at every turn we expected, until we
came to where the ice was gone and the water
narrow. This did not agree with my idea of South
Bay, but it was no time for reflection; we quitted
the ice to the left, and after marching two miles,
our guide assured us we ought to be on the other
side of the water. This was a very distressing cir-
cumstance, yet we returned to the ice and passed
to the right where, after struggling through the
snow about four miles and breaking in every second
step, as we had no snowshoes, we were stopped by
a large waterfall. Here I was again astonished with
appearances, but nothing now was to be thought
of only reaching the fort before night; yet to pass
this place seemed impracticable: however, I at-
tempted to ford it a little higher, and had almost
gained the opposite shore, whore the depth of the
water; which was up to my breast, and the rapidity
of the stream, hurried me off the slippery rocks,
and plunged me entirely in the waters. I was obliged
to quit my fusee and with great difficulty escaped
being carried down the falL Mr. ,who followed
me, and the guide, though they held by one another,
suffered the same fate; but the hopes of soon reaching
a fibre made us think lightly of this: as night ap-
proached, we laboured excessively through the snow;
we were certain the fort was not far from us, but
our guide confessed for the first time that he was
at a loss. Here we plainly observed that his brain

[72]

was affected: he saw Indians all around him, and
though we have since learned we had everything
to fear from them, yet it was a danger we did not
now attend to; nay, we shouted aloud several times
to give information we were there; but we could
neither hear nor see anybody to lead us right, or
more likely to destroy us, and if we halted a minute
we became pillars of ice; so that we resolved, as
it froze so hard, to make a fire, although the danger
was apparent. Accidentally we had one dry cartridge,
and in trying with my pistol if it would flash a
little of the powder, Mr. unfortunately held the
cartridge too near, by which it took fire, blew up
in our faces, almost blinded hi, and gave exces-
sive pain. This indeed 'promised to be the last
stroke of fortune, as our hopes of a fire were now
no more; but although we were not anxious about
life, we knew it was more becoming to oppose than
yield to this last misfortune. We made a path round
a tree, and there exercised all the night though
scarcely able to stand or prevent each other from
sleeping- Our guide, notwithstanding repeated cau-
tions, straggled from us, where he sat down and
died immediately. On the morning of the 20th, we
saw the fort which we approached with a white
flag: the officers ran violently towards us and saved
us from a danger we did not then apprehend; for
we are informed that if the Indians, who were dose
after them, had seized us first, it would not have
been in the power of the French to have prevented
our being hurried to their camp and perhaps to
Montreal the next day, or killed for not being able
to march. Mons. IKtecourt and all his officers treat

[73]

us with humanity and politeness, and are solicitous
in our recovery, which returns slowly, as you may
imagine, from all these difficulties; and though I
have omitted many, yet I am afraid you will think
me too prolix; but we wish, Sir, to persuade you of
a truth, that nothing but the situation I have faith-
fully described could determine us in a resolution
which appeared only one degree preferable to perish-
ing in the woods.

I shall make no comments upon these distresses:
the malicious perhaps will say, which is very true,
we brought them upon ourselves; but let them not
wantonly add, we deserved them because we were
unsuccessful. They must allow we could not be led
abroad, at such a season of snow and ice, for amuse-
ment or by an idle curiosity. I gave you, Sir, my
reasons for asking leave, which you were pleaded
to approve, and I hope will defend them; and the
same would make me again, as a volunteer, expe-
rience the chance of war tomorrow, had I an oppor-
tunity. These are Mr. 's sentiments as well as
mine; and we both know you, Sir, too well to har-
bour the least doubt of receiving justice with regard
to our conduct in this affair or our promotion in
the regiment; the prospect of not joining that so
soon as we flattered ourselves has depressed our spirits
to the lowest degree so that we earnestly beg you
will be solicitous with the General to have us re-
stored as soon as possible, or at least to prevent our
being sent to France and separated from you perhaps
during the war.

I have but one thing more to add, which we
learned here, and which perhaps you have already

[74]

observed from what I have said, that we were upon
no other ice than that of Lake George; but by the
day overtaking us, the morning of the 14th, in the
very place we had in coming marched during the
night, we were entirely unacquainted with it, and
obliged to put a confidence in this guide whose head
must have been astray from the beginning or he
could not so grossly have mistaken a place where
he had so often been. This information but added
to our distress until we reflected that our not being
entirely lost was the more wonderful. That we had
parted from South Bay on the 14th was a point with
us beyond all doubt, and about which we never
once hesitated, so that we acted entirely contrary
to what we had established as a truth; for if, accord-
ing to that, we had continued our course to the
west, we must inevitably have perished; but the
hand of Providence led us back contrary to our
judgment; and though even then, and often after-
wards, we thought it severe, yet in the end it saved
us and obliged us to rest satisfied that we construed
many things unfortunate which tended to our pres-
ervation. I am, See.

Upon my return from the late unfortunate scout,
I was ordered to Albany to recruit my companies,
where I met with a very friendly reception from my
Lord Howe who advanced me cash to recruit the
Rangers and gave me leave to wait upon General
Abercromby at New York, who had now succeeded
my Lord Loudoun in the chief command, my Lord
being at this time about to embark for England. I
here received a commission from the General, of
which the following is a copy.

[75]

By his Excellency James Abercromby, Esq,
Colonel of his Majesty's 44th Regiment of Foot,
Colonel in Chief of the 60th or Royal American
Regiment, Major General and Commander-in-
Chief of all his Majesty's Forces raised or to be
raised in North America, &c.

Whereas it may be of great use to his Majesty's
service in the operations now carrying on for re-
covering his rights in America, to have a number
of men employed in obtaining intelligence of the
strength, situation, and motions of the enemy, as
well as other services, for which Rangers, or men
acquainted with the woods, .only are fit: Having the
greatest confidence in your loyalty, courage and skill
in this kind of service, I do, by virtue of the power
and authority to me given by his Majesty, hereby
constitute and appoint you to be Major of the
Rangers in his Majesty's service, and likewise Cap-
tain of a company of said Rangers. You are there-
fore to take the said Rangers as Major, and the said
Company as Captain, into your care and charge, and
duly exercise and instruct, as well the officers as
the soldiers thereof, in arms, and to use your best
endeavors to keep them in good order and dis-
cipline; and I do hereby command them to obey
you as their Major and Captain respectively, and
you are to follow and observe such orders and direc-
tions from time to time as you shall receive from
his Majesty, myself, or any other superior officer,
according to the rules and discipline of war.

Given at New York, this 6th Day of April 1758,
in the thirty-first Year of the reign of our Sov-
ereign Lord Geoige the Second, by the Grace of

[76]

God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland,
Defender of the Faith, &c.

JAMES ABERGROMBY.

By his Excellency's command,

J. APPY.

I left New York April 8, and according to orders
attended Lord Howe at Albany, for his directions,
on the 12th, with whom I had a most agreeable in-
terview, and a long conversation concerning the
methods of distressing the enemy, and prosecuting
the war with vigour the ensuing campaign. I parted
with him, having the strongest assurances of his
friendship and influence in my behalf, to wait upon
Colonel Grant, commanding officer at Fort Edward,
to assist him in conducting the Rangers and scouting
parties in such a manner as might best serve the
common cause, having a letter from my Lord to
him. Capt. Stark was immediately dispatched to
Ticonderoga on the west side of Lake George. Capt.
Jacob, whose Indian name was Naunauphtaunk, on
the east side, and Capt. Shepherd betwixt the lakes
with directions to take if possible some prisoners
near Carillon. About the same time I marched my-
self with eighteen men for Crown Point. Capt. Bur-
bank was likewise dispatched in quest of prisoners.
These scouts, being often relieved, were kept out
pretty constantly in order to discover any parties
of the enemy that might sally out towards our forts
or frontiers, and to reconnoitre their situation and
motions from time to time. The success of my own
scout was as follows.

April 29, 1758, I marched from Fort Edward with
a party of eighteen men, up the road that leads

[77]

to Fort William Henry four miles then north four
miles, and encamped at Schoon Creek, it having
been a very rainy day.

On the 30th we marched north-and-by-east all
day, and encamped near South Bay.

The 1st of May we continued the same course,
and at night encamped near the narrows north of
South Bay.

The 2d, in the morning, made a raft, and crossed
the bay over to the east side, and having distanced
the lake about four miles we encamped.

The 3d we steered our course north, and lay at
night about three miles from Carillon.

The 4th we marched north-by-east all day, and
encamped at night three miles from Crown Point
fort.

The 5th we killed one Frenchman and took three
prisoners.

The 6th, in the morning, began our return home-
ward, and arrived with our prisoners at Fort Ed-
ward the 9th.

One of the prisoners, who appeared to be the most
intelligible, reported, "that he was born at Lorraine
"in France; that he had been in Canada eight years,
"viz two at Quebec, one at Montreal, and five at
"Crown Point; that at the latter were but 200 sol-
"diers of which Mons. Lusignan was commander
"in chief; that at Ticonderoga there were 400 of the
"Queens Regiment, 150 marines, 200 Canadians,
"and about 700 Indians; and that they daily ex-
pected 300 Indians more; that they did not intend
"to attack our forts this summer, but were prepar-
ing to receive us at Ticonderoga; that they had
"heard that I, with most of my party, was killed

[78]

"in the conflict last March; but afterwards, by some
"prisoners which a small party of their Indians had
"taken from Dutch Hoosick, they were informed that
"Rogers was yet alive, and was going to attack them
"again, being fully resolved to revenge the inhu-
"manity and barbarity with which they had used his
"men, in particular Lieut. Philips and his party,
"who were butchered by them after they had prom-
"ised them quarters; that this was talked of among
"the Indians, who greatly blamed the French for
"encouraging them so to do."

Captains Stark and Jacob returned the day before
me; the former brought in with him six prisoners,
four of which he took near Ticonderoga; they hav-
ing escaped from New York and Albany, were in
their flight to the French forts. The latter, who had
but one white man with him and eighteen Indians,
took ten prisoners and seven scalps out of a party
of fifty French. An account of these scouts, and the
intelligence thereby gained, was transmitted to my
Lord Howe and by him to the General.

About the middle of May, a flag of truce was
sent to Ticonderoga on Col. Schuyler's account, which
put a stop to all offensive scouts till its return.

May 28, 1758. I received positive orders from the
General to order all officers and men belonging to
the Rangers, and the two Indian companies, who
were on furlough or recruiting parties, to join their
respective companies as soon as possible, and that
every man of the corps under my command should
be at his post at or before the 10th of next month.
These orders were obeyed, and parties kept out on
various scouts till the 8th of June when my Lord

[79]

Howe arrived at Fort Edward with one half of the
army.

His Lordship immediately ordered me out with
fifty men in whaleboats, which were carried over
in wagons to Lake George, and directed me at all
events to take a plan of the landing place at the
north end with all possible accuracy, and also of
the ground from the landing place to the French
fort at Carillon, and of Lake Champlain for three
miles beyond it, and to discover the enemy's number
in that quarter." Agreeable to these orders, on the
12th in the morning, I marched with a party of fifty
men, and encamped in the evening at the place
where Fort William Henry stood.

On the 30th we proceeded down the lake in five
whaleboats to the first narrows and so on to the
west end of the lake, where I took the plan his Lord-
ship desired. Part of my party then proceeded to
reconnoitre Ticonderoga, and discovered a large
encampment there, and a great number of Indians.
While I was, with two or three others, taking a plan
of the fort, encampment, &c I left the remainder of
my party at some considerable distance; when I was
returning to them, at the distance of about 300
yards, they were fallen upon by a superior number
of the enemy who had got between me and them.
Capt. Jacob, with the Mohegan Indians ran off at
the first onset, calling to our people to run likewise;
but they stood their ground, and discharged their
pieces several times, at last broke through the en-
emy by whom they were surrounded on all sides
except their rear where a river covered them: they
killed three of the enemy, but lost eight of their

[80}

own party in this skirmish. My party rallied at the
boats where I joined them, and having collected all
but the slain together we returned homewards. On
the 20th, at Half Way Brook, we met my Lord
Howe, advanced with three thousand men, to whom
I gave an account of my scout together with a plan
of the landing place, the fort at Carillon, and the
situation of the lakes.

I obtained leave of my Lord to go to Fort Ed-
ward, where his Excellency Major General Aber-
cromby was then posted, who ordered me to join my
Lord Howe the next day with all the Rangers,
being 600, in order to proceed with his Lordship to
the lake.

On the 22d his Lordship encamped at the lake
where formerly stood Fort William Henry, and
ordered the Rangers to advance 400 yards on the
west side, and encamp there; from which place, by
his Lordship's orders, I sent off next morning three
small parties of Rangers, viz. one to the narrows of
South Bay, another to the west side of Lake George,
and a third to Ticonderpga fort, all three parties by
land. Another party, consisting of two Lieutenants
and seventeen men, proceeded down the lake for
discoveries, and were all made prisoners by about
300 French and Indians. This party embarked in
whaleboats.

About the 28th of June his Excellency Major
General Abercromby arrived at the lake with the
remainder of the army, where he tarried till the
morning of the 5th of July, and then the whole
army, consisting of near 16,000, embarked in bateaux
for Tictmderoga.

The order of march was a m'ost agreeable sight;

[81

the regular troops in the center, provincials on each
wing, the light infantry on the right of the ad-
vanced guard, the Rangers on the left, with Colonel
Broadstreet's bateaux men in the center. In this
manner we proceeded till dusk down Lake George
to Sabbath Day Point where the army halted and
refreshed. About ten o'clock the army moved again,
when my Lord Howe went in the front with his
whaleboat, Lieutenant Col. Broadstreet's and mine,
with Lieutenant Holmes in another whom he sent
forward to go near the landing place and observe
if any enemy was posted there.

Holmes returned about daybreak, met the army
near the Blue Mountains within four miles of the
landing place, and reported- that there was a party
of the enemy at the landing place, which he discov-
ered by their fires.

As soon as it was light his Lordship, with Col.
Broadstreet and myself, went down to observe the
landing place before the army, and when within
about a quarter of a mile, plainly discerned that it
was but a small detachment of the enemy that was
there; whereupon his Lordship said he would return
to the General, that the army might land and march
to Ticonderoga. About twelve o'clock the whole
army landed, the Rangers on the left wing. I im-
mediately sent an officer to wait upon the General
for his orders, and received directions from CapL
Abercrombie, one of his Aid-de-Camp, to gain the
top of a mountain that bore north about a mile
from the landing place, and from thence to steer
east to the river that runs into the falls betwixt the
landing and the sawmill, to take possession of some
rising ground on the enemy's side, and there to wait

[82]

the army's coming. I immediately marched, ascended
the top of the hill, and from thence marched to the
place I was ordered, where I arrived in about an
hour, and posted my party to as good advantage as
I could, being within one quarter of a mile of where
Mons. Montcalm was posted with 1500 men, whom
I had discovered by some small reconnoitring parties
sent out for that purpose. About twelve o'clock Colo-
nels Lyman and Fitch of the Provincials came to
my rear, whom I informed of the enemy's being
so very near, and inquiring concerning the army,
they told me they were coming along. While this
conversation passed, a sharp fire began in the rear
of Col. Lyman's regiment, on which he said he
would make his front immediately, and desired me
to fall on their left Bank, which I accordingly did,
having first ordered Capt. Burbanks with 150 men
to remain at the place where I was posted to observe
the motions of the French at the sawmills, and went
with the remainder of the Rangers on the left flank
of the enemy, the river being on their right, and
killed several. By this time my Lord Howe, with
a detachment from his front, had broke the enemy,
and hemmed them in on every side; but advancing
himself with great eagerness and intrepidity upon
them, was unfortunately shot and died immedi-
ately.* There were taken prisoners of the enemy
in this action, five officers, two volunteers, and one
hundred and sixty men, who were sent to the land-
ing place. Nothing more material was done this day.

* This noble and brave officer being universally beloved by
both officers and soldiers of the army, his fell was not only
most sincerely lamented but seemed to produce an almost
general consternation and languor through the whole.

[83]

The next morning, at six o'clock, I was ordered to
march to the river that runs into the falls, the place
where I was the day before, and there to halt on the
west side till further orders, with four hundred
Rangers, while Captain Stark, with the remainder
of the Rangers, marched with Capt. Abercrombie
and Mr. Clerk the Engineer to observe the position
of the enemy at the fort, from whence they returned
again that evening. The whole army lay the ensuing
night under arms. By sunrise next morning, Sir
William Johnson joined the army with four hundred
and forty Indians. At seven o'clock I received orders
to march with my Rangers. A Lieutenant of Captain
Stark's led the advance guard. I was within about
three hundred yards of the breast work when my
advance guard was ambushed and fired upon by
about 200 Frenchmen. I immediately formed a front,
and marched up to the advanced guard, who main-
tained their ground and the enemy immediately
retreated: soon after the bateaux men formed on my
left and light infantry on my right. This fire of the
enemy did not kill a single man. Soon after three
regiments of Provincials came up and formed in my
rear at two hundred yards distance. While the army
was thus forming, a scattering fire was kept up
between our flying parties and those of the enemy
without the breast work. About half an hour past
ten, the greatest pan of the army being drawn up,
a smart fire began on the left wing, where Col. De
Lanoey's, (the New Yorkers) and the bateaux men
were posted, upon which I was ordered forward to
endeavour to beat the enemy within the breast work
and then to fall down that the pickets and grena-
diers might march through. The enemy soon retired

[84]

within their works; Major Proby marched through
with his pickets within a few yards of the breast-
work where he unhappily fell, and the enemy keep-
ing up a heavy fire, the soldiers hastened to the right
about, when Col. Haldiman came up with the
grenadiers to support them, being followed by the
battalions in brigades for their support. Col. Hal-
diman^ advanced very near the breastwork which
was at least eight feet high; some of the provincials
with the Mohawks came up also.*

We toiled with repeated attacks for four hours,
being greatly embarrassed by trees that were felled
by the enemy without their breastwork, when the
General thought proper to order a retreat, directing
me to bring up the reaf , which I did in the dusk of
the evening. On the ninth in the evening, we arrived
at our encampment at the south end of Lake George,
where the army received the thanks of the General
for their good behavior and were ordered to en-
trench themselves; the wounded were sent to Fort
Edward and Albany. Our loss both in the regular
and provincial troops was somewhat considerable.
The enemy's loss was about fiye hundred besides
those who were taken prisoners.

July 8, 1758. By order of the General, I this day
began a scout to South Bay, from which I returned
the 16th, having effected nothing considerable except
discovering a large party of the enemy, supposed to
be near a thousand, on the east side of the lake.
This party the next day, viz- the 17th, fell upon a

This attack was begun before the General intended it
should be, and as it were by accident from the fire of the New
Yorkers in the left wing; upon which Col. Haviland being in
or near the center ordered the troops to advance.

[85]

detachment of Col. Nicholls' Regiment at the Ha
Way Brook, killed three Captains and upwards of
twenty private men.

The 27th another party of the enemy fell upon
a convoy of wagoners between Fort Edward and
Half Way Brook, and killed 116 men, sixteen of
which were Rangers. In pursuit of this party, with
a design to intercept their retreatjQt was ordered to
embark the 18th with 700 men; the enemy however
escaped me, and in my return home on the 31st,
I was met by an express from the General, with
orders to march with 700 men to South and East
Bay and return by way of Fort Edward, in the prose-
cution of which orders nothing very material hap-
pened till the 8th of August; in our return, early
in the morning of which day, we decamped from the
place where Fort Anne stood, and began our march,
Major Putnam with a party of Provincials marching
in the front, my Rangers in the rear, Capt. Dalyell
with the regulars in the center, the other officers
suitably disposed among the men, being in number
530, exclusive of officers (a number having by leave
returned home the day before) . After marching
about three-quarters of a mile, a fire began with
five hundred of the enemy in the front; I brought
my people into as good order as possible, Capt.
Dalyell in the center, and the Rangers on the right,
with Col. Partridge's light infantry; on the left was
Capt. Gidding's of the Boston troops with his people,
and Major Putnam being in the front of his men
when the fire began, the enemy rushing in, took
him, one Lieutenant, and two others prisoners, and
considerably disordered others of the party, who
afterwards rallied and did good service, particularly

[86]

Lieutenant Durkee, who notwithstanding wounds,
one in his thigh, the other in his wrist, kept in the
action the whole time, encouraging his men with
great earnestness and resolution. Capt. Dalyell with
Gage's light infantry and Lieut. Eyers of the 44th
regiment behaved with great bravery, they being in
the center where was at first the hottest fire, which
afterwards fell to the right where the Rangers were,
and where the enemy made four different attacks;
in short, officers and soldiers throughout the detach-
ment behaved with such vigour and resolution as
in one hour's time broke the enemy and obliged
them to retreat, which they did with such caution
in small scattering parties as gave us no great op-
portunity to distress them by a pursuit; we kept the
field and buried our dead. When the action was
over, we had missing fifty-four men, twenty-one of
which afterwards came in, being separated from us
while the action continued. The enemy's loss was
119 killed on the spot, several of which were In-
dians.* We arrived at Fort Edward on the 9th, being
met at some distance from it by Col. Provost, with
a party of SCO, and refreshments for the wounded,
which I had desired by an express sent before.

I remained at Fort Edward till the llth of the
month when I received orders from Col. Provost,
who now ranked as Brigadier and commanded at
Fort Edward, to march and pursue the tracks of a
laige party of Indians, of which he had received
intelligence, down the east side of the Hudson
River, in order to secure our convoys from them
and intercept their retreat; but this report which

* By a detachment that went out afterwards, fifty more of
the enemy were found dead near the place of action.

[87]

the Colonel had heard being groundless, my scout
was ineffectual. I returned to Fort Edward on the
14th, and went with my detachment directly to the
encampment at Lake George.

August 20, 1758. By orders from the General I em-
barked with five men in a whaleboat to visit and
reconnoitre Ticonderoga, in which excursion I ob-
tained several articles of intelligence concerning
the enemy, their situation and numbers at different
posts, and returned the 24th to the encampment at
Lake George.

I was employed in various other excursions to-
wards the enemy's forts and frontiers and in pursuit
of their flying parties till the campaign for this year
ended, and our army retired to winter quarters.

Notwithstanding little was effected by our late
campaign to Ticonderoga; yet the British arms in
America were not everywhere unsuccessful: for Col.
Broadstreet, with a detachment of 2000 men, re-
duced the French fort at Chateaugay, called Fort
Frontenac,* and General Amherst, who commanded
the British troops at Cape Breton, had succeeded
in the reduction of that important fortress, and now
returned from his conquest with a part of the troops
that had been employed there, and was appointed
commander in chief of his Majesty's forces in North

*This fort was square faced, had four bastions built with
stone, and was near three-quarters of a mile in drcumferance.
Its situation was very beautiful, the banks of the river pre-
senting on every side an agreeable landscape, with a fine
prospect of the Lake Ontario, which was distant about a
league, interspersed with many islands that were well wooded
and seemingly fruitful. The French had formerly a great trade
at this fort with the Indians, it being erected on purpose to
prevent their trading with the English; but it is now totally
destroyed.

[88]

(General Abercromby embarking for Eng-
head quarters were now fixed at New
I had now new commanders to obey, new
companions to converse with, and, as it were, a new
apprenticeship to serve! From Albany, where I was
settling some accounts with the Paymaster, I began
my acquaintance by the following letter to Col.
Townsend, Deputy Adjutant General to his Excel-
lency.

Albany, Jan. 28, 1759.
Sir,

Enclosed I send you the present state of his
Majesty's companies of* Rangers at Fort Edward,
together with a list of the officers, now recruiting
in the different parts of New England, who have
lately advised me that they have already enlisted
near 400 men, which recruits are much wanted at
Fort Edward as it may be expected that the enemy
will soon send their Indians to endeavour to inter-
cept our convoys between here and Fort Edward.

To be seasonably strong to prevent their playing
their old pranks, I would humbly propose, were it
consistent with the service and agreeable to Cfeneral
Amherst, my setting out for New England IE order
to dispatch such Rangers as are there with all
possible speed to Fort Edward, or otherwise, as his
Excellency shall direct If it should be agreeable to
the General that I should go to New England, I
should be glad it might be by way of New York
that I might have an opportunity to wait upon the
General myself, and represent to him the necessity
of an augmentation of the Rangers now at Fort

[89]

Edward, and the desire of the Stockbridge Indians
to reenter the service.

The arms of the Rangers are in the hands of Mr.
Cunningham at New York, which will be soon
wanted at Fort Edward; I should therefore be glad
they might be forwarded as soon as may be. I have
written to Mr. Cunningham to make application
to you for convenient carriages for the same, which
I should be glad you would furnish him with. And
till the time I have an opportunity of paying you
my respects in person, I beg leave to subscribe my-
self, Sir,

Your most obedient humble servant,

Robert Rogers.

P. S. General Stanwix informs me that a subaltern
officer and about twenty Rangers are to be stationed
at No. 4; the officer I would recommend for that
post is Lieut. Stephans who is well acquainted with
the country thereabout. He is now recruiting.

To Col. Townsend.

Soon after this I returned to Fort Edward where
I received the Colonel's answer, as follows.

Fefc.5,1759.
Sir,

I received your letter with the enclosed return.
The General commands me to inform you he can
by no means approve of your leaving Fort Edward.

Your recruiting officers are all ordered to send
up their recruits to Fort Edward. They are not only
written to but an advertisement put in all the

[90]

papers* which was the only method the General had
of conveying his intentions to them, as you had not
sent me any return of the officers names and places
where they were to recruit at In obedience to that
order, the recruits will be up sooner than if they
waited your coming down. I have likewise repeated
the order to every officer, according to your return,
by this post, and if you are complete by the returns
they make, I shall order up every individual officer
to their posts.

Any proposals for the augmentation of the Rangers,
or proposals from the Stockbridge Indians, you would
choose to offer to the General, he desires may be
immediately sent down to him.

The arms for the Rangers, which you mention
are in the hands of Mr. Cunningham, shall be sent
up to you immediately.

I have written to Lieut. Samuel Stephans, to ac-
quaint him with the General's intentions of leaving
him at No. 4.

If the enemy sends out any scouting parties
this year to pick up intelligence, or attack our con-
voys, the season of the year is now coming on that
we may expect them; you therefore must see the
necessity of your remaining at Fort Edward. Your
officers and men should join you as fast as possible.
The General would at another time comply with
your request.

Your obedient humble servant,

R. Townshend, D. A. G.

Feb. 15, 1759.
To Major Rogers.

I wrote to the Colonel proposing an addition of

[91]

two new companies of Rangers upon the same foot-
ing as those already in the service, and the raising
of three companies of Indians to serve the ensuing
campaign; and lest the Indians should be gone out
on their hunting parties, and so be prevented from
joining us, I wrote to three of their Sachems or
chiefs; one of which to Ring Uncas, head Sachem
of the Mohegan Indians (which in substance is like
the others) I will here insert as a specimen of the
method in which we are obliged to address these
savages.

Brother Uncas,

As it is for the advantage of his Majesty Ktpg
George to have a large body of Rangers employed
in his service the ensuing campaign, and as I am
well convinced of the sincere attachment you have
to him, I therefore carefully obey General Amherst's
orders to me to engage your assistance here early
in the spring.

I hope you'll continue to show that ardent zeal
you have all along expressed for the English, ever
since you have been allied to them, by raising a
company of your men with the utmost expedition.

Should you choose to come out a Captain, General
Amherst will readily give you the commission for it;
if not, I shall expect Doquipe and Nunnipad. I
leave you the choice of an Ensign and two Ser-
geants, but I hope you'll engage the fittest men for
their stations. I would have the company consist of
fifty private men or more if you can get them; and
if those men that deserted from Capt. Brewer will
join you, the General will pardon them. You may

[92]

employ a Clerk for the company, to whom General
Amherst will allow the usual pay.

I heartily wish you success in raising your men,
and shall be exceeding glad that you join me with
all the expedition you possibly can. I am,

Brother Uncas,

Your most obedient humble servant,
To King Uncas. Robert Rogers.

With this letter, or any other written to them,
in order to give it any credit or influence, must go
a belt of wampum suitable to the matter and oc-
casion of it, and upon which the bearer, after having
read the letter, interprets it, and then delivers both
to the Sachem or person they are directed to.

The latter end of February, about fifty Mohawks
commanded by Captain Lotridge came from Sir Wil-
liam Johnson to join me and proceed to Ticon-
deroga on a scout

March 3, 1759, I received the following orders
from Col. Haldiman:

An officer being chosen by the General to make
observations upon the enemy's situation, and the
strength of their forts upon Lake Champlain, you
are ordered to march with your Rangers and the
Mohawk Indians under the command of Capt. Lot-
ridge, and take all the measures and precautions
possible that he may execute his intentions, and
perform the service which the General has much at
heart; and to effect this with more security, a body
of regulars is likewise ordered to join with you,
and you are to have the command of the whole.
Lieut. Brheine is to communicate his orders to you;

and the service being performed, you will endeavour
to take a prisoner, or prisoners, or strike such a
stroke on the enemy, and try to bring us intel-
ligence.

He recommends it in the strongest manner that
if some of the enemy should fall into your hands
to prevent the Indians from exercising their cruelty
upon them, as he desires prisoners may be treated
with humanity.

Fred. Haldiman

Fort Edward, Commander at

March 3, 1759. Fort Edward.

Pursuant to the above orders, I marched the same
day with a party of 358 men, officers included, and
encamped the first night at Half Way Brook. One
Indian, being hurt by accident, returned to Fort
Edward. The 4th, marched to within one mile and
a half of Lake George, and halted till evening that
we might the better pass undiscovered by the enemy
if any were on the hill reconnoitring. We continued
our march till two o'clock in the morning, and halted
at the first narrows. It being excessive cold, and
several of our party being frostbitten, I sent back
twenty-three under the charge of a careful sergeant
to Fort Edward. We continued here till the evening
of the 5th, then marched to Sabbath Day Point,
where we arrived about eleven o'clock almost over-
come with the cold. At two o'clock we continued
our march, and reached the landing place about
eight. I sent out a small party to observe if any of
the enemy's parties went out. They returned and
reported that none were to be seen on the west
side of the lake, but on the east were two working

[94]

parties. It now appeared to be a suitable time for
the engineer to make his observations. I left Capt.
Williams to remain at this place with the Regulars
and thirty Rangers while I, with the engineer, forty-
nine Rangers, and Capt. Lotridge, with forty-five
Indians, went to the isthmus that overlooks the
fort, where he made his observations. We returned
to our party, leaving five Indians and one Ranger
to observe what numbers crossed the lake in the
evening from the east side to the fort, that I might
know the better how to attack them next morning.
At dark the engineer went again with Lieut. Tute
and a guard of ten men to the entrenchments, and
returned at midnight without opposition having
done his business to his satisfaction. On which I
ordered Capt. Williams with the Regulars back to
Sabbath Day Point; the party being extremely dis-
tressed with the cold, it appeared to me imprudent
to march his men any further, especially as they
had no snowshoes. I sent with him Lieut. Tute and
thirty Rangers with directions to kindle fires on the
aforesaid Point At three o'clock I marched with
three Lieutenants and forty Rangers, one Regular,
and Capt. Lotridge with forty-six Indians, in order
to be ready to attack the enemy's working parties
on the east side of the lake early in the morning.
We crossed South Bay about eight miles south of
the fort;* from thence, it being about six o'clock,
bore down right opposite the fort, and within half
a mile of where the French parties, agreeable to our
expectations, were cutting of wood. Here I halted,
and sent two Indians and two Rangers to observe

* Here we found that a party of Indians had gone up the
bay towards our Sorts.

their situation. They returned in a few minutes and
brought intelligence that the working parties were
close to the banks of the lake, and opposite the
fort, and were about forty in number; upon which
we stripped off our blankets and ran down upon
them, took several prisoners, and destroyed most of
the party as they were retreating to the fort, from
whence being discovered, about eighty Canadians
and Indians pursued us closely, being backed by
about 150 French regulars, and in a mile's inarch
they began a fire in our rear; and as we marched
in a line abreast, our front was easily made; I halted
on a rising ground, resolving to make a stand against
the enemy who appeared at first very resolute: but
we repulsed them before their reinforcement came
up, and began our march again in a line abreast;
having advanced about half a mile further, they
came in sight again. As soon as we could obtain an
advantageous post, which was a long ridge, we again
made a stand on the side opposite the enemy. The
Canadians and Indians came very dose, but were
soon stopped by a warm fire from the Rangers and
Mohawks. They broke immediately, and the Mo-
hawks with some Rangers pursued, and entirely
routed them before their Regulars could come up.
After this we marched without any opposition. In
these several skirmishes we had two Rangers and
one Regular killed and one Indian wounded, and
killed about thirty of the enemy. We continued our
march till twelve o'clock at night, and came to CapL
Williams at Sabbath Day Point (fifty miles distant
from the place we set out from in the morning).
The Captain received ns with good fires, than which
scarce any thing could be more acceptable to my

[96]

party, several of which had their feet frozen, it being
excessive cold and the snow four feet deep. Next
morning inarched the whole detachment as far as
Long Island in Lake George, and there encamped
that night. On our march from Sabbath Day Point
to this island, I gave leave to some of the Rangers
and Indians to hunt near the side of the lake, who
brought us in great plenty of venison for our refresh-
ment.

I sent Lieut. Tute with the following letter to
GoL Haldiman, fearing lest a party of Indians we
had some notice of might have gone up South Bay
and get an opportunity of doing mischief before
I could reach Fort Edward with the whole detach-
ment.

Camp at Sabbath Day Point, Friday,
eight o'clock in the morning.
SIR,

I send this to let you know that sixty Indians in
two parties are gone towards Fort Edward and
Saratoga and I fear will strike some blow before
this reaches you. Mr. Brheme is satisfied he has done
his business agreeable to his orders: since which I
have taken some prisoners from Ticonderoga, and
destroyed others of the enemy, of the particulars
of which the bearer will inform you.

The Mohawks behaved with great bravery; some
have been within pistol shot of the French fort.

Two-thirds of my detachment have frozen their
feet (the weather being so severe that it is almost
impossible to describe it), some of which we are
obliged to carry. I am, &c

R. Rogers.

Dear Sir,

[97]
Fort Edward, March 10, 1759.

I congratulate you heartily on your good success,
and send you twenty-two sleds to transport your
sick. You will, by this opportunity, take as many
boards as you can conveniently.* My best compli-
ments to Capt. Williams and to all the gentlemen.
I am, Sir,

Your most humble servant,

Fred. Haldimand.

P. S. I had the signal guns fired to give notice to
the different posts. Nothing has appeared as yetf

We were met by the sleds and a detachment of
100 men at Lake George, and all arrived safe at
Fort Edward, where I received the following letters
upon my arrival.

SIR,

I yesterday received your letter by Mr. Stark. The
General approves of raising the Indian companies;
but as he has not heard the Rangers are complete,
he cannot agree to the raising more companies till
the present ones are complete at Fort Edward.
Mr. Stark sets out tomorrow for England. I have
ordered him to hurry up the recruits of your corps,
and repeat my orders to the officers to join their
companies if they are complete. Your arms have been

* Boards left at the place where Fort William Henry stood
and now wanted at Fort Edward.

fThe explosion of these signal guns (as we afterwards
heard) was heard by the party of the enemy then near Fort
Miller, eight miles below Fort Edward, who thereupon sup-
posing themselves discovered retreated with precipitation.

[98]

tried and proved by the artillery; they answer very
well, and are ordered to be sent to you as fast as
possible: the General has sent to you by Capt. Jacob.
We have chosen out one hundred men from each
regiment, and pitched upon the officers to act this
year as light infantry; they are clothed and ac-
coutred as light as possible and, in my opinion, are
a kind of troops that has been much wanted in this
country. They have what ammunition they want, so
that I don't doubt but they will be excellent marks-
men. You may depend upon General Amhexst's in-
tentions to have you; I heard Brigadier Gage men-
tion you to him. From what knowledge I have of
the General, I can only say that merit is sure to be
rewarded; nor does he favour any recommendation
without the person recommended really deserves his
promotion. You will return your companies to me
as soon as complete.

Your obedient humble servant,

R. Townshend.
New York,
Feb. 26, 1759.
To Major Rogers.

New York, Feb. 13, 1759.
SIR,

This will be delivered to you by Capt. Jacob
Naunauphtaunk, who last campaign commanded a
company of Stockbridge Indians; and who, upon
hearing that you had written to me concerning him,
came to offer me his service for the ensuing cam-
paign: But as you have not mentioned to me the
terms and conditions on which he was to engage,

I have referred him to you to give in his proposals
that you may report to me thereupon and inform
me if you think his service adequate to them; after
which I shall give you my answer. I am, Sir,
Your very humble servant,

Jeff. Amhcrst.
To Major Rogers.

Before I received this letter from his Excellency,
I had written to him recommending several officers
to the vacancies in the ranging companies, and en-
closed a journal of my late scout; soon after my
return from which I went to Albany to settle my
accounts with the government, where I waited upon
his Excellency the General, by whom I was very
kindly received and assured that I should have the
rank of Major in the army from the date of my
commission under General Abercromby.

I returned to Fort Edward the fifteenth of May,
where I received the melancholy news that Capt.
Burbank with a party of thirty men had in my
absence been sent out on a scout and were all cut
off. This gave me great uneasiness as Mr. Burbank
was a gentleman I very highly esteemed, and one
of the best officers among the Rangers, and more
especially as I judged the scout he was sent out upon
by the commanding officer at the fort was needless
and unadvisedly undertaken.

Preparation for the campaign were hastened by
his Excellency the General in every quarter; the levies
from the several provinces forwarded, the companies
of Rangers completed and disciplined in the best
manner I was capable of, and of which the General
was pleased greatly to approve.

[100]

In the month of June, part of the army marched
with General Gage for the lake. I was ordered to
send three companies there with CapL Stark, and
to remain with the General myself with the other
three companies till such time as he marched thither.
In this interval, pursuant to his Excellency's orders,
I sent out several parties to the French forts, who
from time to time discovered the situation of the
enemy and brought satisfactory intelligence.

About the 20th of June, the General with the
remainder of the army marched to the lake, the
Rangers being in the advance guard; and here his
Excellency was pleased to fulfill his promise to me
by declaring in public orders my rank of Major in
the army from the date of my commission as Major
of the Rangers. We continued here collecting our
strength together, and making necessary prepara-
tions, and getting what intelligence we could of the
strength and situation of the enemy rill July 21,
1759 when the army embarked for Ticonderoga. I
was in the from with the Rangers on the right
wing, and was the first body that landed on July 22
at the north end of Lake George, followed by the
grenadiers and light infantry which Col. Haviland
commanded.

I marched, agreeable to orders from the General,
across the mountains in the isthmus; from thence, in
a byway, athwart the woods to the bridge at the
sawmills; where finding the bridge standing, I im-
mediately crossed it with my Rangers, and took pos-
session of the rising ground on the other side, and
beat from thence a party of the enemy, and took
several prisoners, killed others, and put the re-
mainder to flight, before Col. Haviland with his

[101]

grenadiers and light infantry got over. The army
took possession that night of the heights near the
sawmills, where they lay all this evening.

The enemy kept out a scouting party, with a body
of Canadians and Indians, which killed several of
our men, and galled us prodigiously.

July 23, the General, early in the morning, put
the army in motion; at the same time ordered me
in front with directions to proceed across the Ches-
nut Plain, the nighest and best way I could, to Lake
Champlain, and endeavour to strike it near the edge
of the cleared ground, between that and the breast-
work, where I was to halt till I received further
orders. Having pursued my orders, and halted at
the lake, I informed the General of my situation,
and that nothing extraordinary had happened in
our march.

The General by this time had appointed and
formed a detachment to attack their main breastwork
on the hill, and had got possession of it. I was or-
dered to send two hundred men to take possession
of a small entrenchment next to Lake Champlain;
and Captain Brewer, whom I had sent to take pos-
session of this post, happily succeeded.

From the time the army came in sight the enemy
kept up a constant fire of cannon from their walk
and batteries at our people. The General at this time
had left several Provincial regiments to bring the
cannon and ammunition across the Carrying Place,
together with provisions, which they did with great
expedition.*

July 24. All this day the engineers were employed

About this time some of the Provincial regiments were
sent to Oswego to assist in building a fort there.

[102]

in raising batteries, as was likewise a great part of the
army in that work, and in making and fetching
fascines till the 26th at night; all which time I had
parties out to Crown Point to watch the motions
of the enemy there; by which means the General
had not only daily but hourly intelligence from those
posts.

I this day received orders from the General to
attempt to cut away a boom which the French had
thrown across the lake opposite the fort, which
prevented our boats from passing by and cutting off
their retreat. For the completion of this order I had
sixty Rangers in one English flat-bottomed boat and
two whaleboats,* in which after night came on, I
embarked, and passed over to the other side of Lake
Champlain opposite to the Rangers encampment, and
from that intended to steer my course along the
east shore, and privately saw off their boom for
which end I had taken saws with me, the boom being
made with logs of timber.

About nine o'clock, when I had got about halfway
from the place where I had embarked, the enemy,
who had undermined their fort, sprung their mines
which blew up with a loud explosion, the enemy
being all ready to embark on board their boats and
make a retreat This gave me an opportunity to
attack them with such success as to drive several of
them ashore; so that next morning we took from the
east shore ten boats, with a considerable quantity of
baggage, and upwards of fifty barrels of powder, and

* These boats were carried across the land from Lake George
to Lake Champlain, on which day the brave and worthy Col.
Townshend was killed by a cannon ball from the enemy,
whose fall was much lamented by the General

[103]

large quantities of ball. About ten o'clock I returned,
and made my report to the General.

The 27th I was ordered with my party to the
sawmills (to wait the flying parties of the enemy
which were expected that way) where I lay till the
llth of August,* on which day I received the fol-
lowing orders from General Amherst.

SIR,

You are this night to send a Captain with a
proper proportion of subalterns, and two hundred
men, to Crown Point where the officer is to post him-
self in such a manner as not to be surprised, and to
seize on the best ground for defending himself; and
if he should be attacked by the enemy, he is not
to retreat with his party, but keep his ground till
he is reinforced from the army. I =>tn, Sir,

Your most obedient,
To Major Rogers. Jeff. Amherst.

Capt. Brewer went with a party, and the General
followed the 12th with the whole army, and the
same day arrived at Crown Point, where it was found
that Capt Brewer had executed his orders extremely
well.

This evening I had orders for encamping; and the
ground for each corps being laid out, my camp was
fixed in the front of the army. Immediately after the
General had got the disposition of his camp settled,
he began to dear ground and prepare a place for

* About this time a party of my people discovered that the
enemy's fort at Crown Point was likewise blown up, and the
enemy fled.

[104]

reeling a new fort in which service great part of
the army was employed. I had orders to send Capt.
Stark with two hundred Rangers to cut a road to
No. 4 which party was immediately sent.

During these transactions I sent out (by the Gen-
eral's approbation) several scouting parties against
the enemy,* which brought in prisoners from St.
John's Fort, and others penetrated into the back
country, the better to learn the nature and situation
ofiL

Thus were we employed till the 12th of September,
when the General, exasperated at the treatment
which Capt. Kennedy had met with, who had been
sent with a party as a flag of truce to the St. Francis
Indians, with proposals of peace to them, and was
by them made a prisoner with the whole party; this
ungenerous inhumane treatment determined the
General to chastise these savages with some severity,
and, in order to it, I received from him the following
orders, viz.

f You are this night to set out with the detachment
as ordered yesterday, viz. of 200 men, which you
will take under your command, and proceed to
Missiquoi Bay, from whence you will march and
attack 'the enemy's settlement on the south side of
the river St. Lawrence, in such a manner as you shall
judge most effectual to disgrace the enemy, and for
the success and honour of his Majesty's arms.

* Capt. Tute and Lieutenant Fletcher, in two different scout-
ing parties, were taken and carried to Canada.

f That this expedition might be carried on with the utmost
secrecy after the plan of it was concerted the day before my
march, it was put into public orders that I was to march a
different way, at the same time I had private instructions to
proceed directly to St. Francis,

[105]

Remember the barbarities that have been com-
mitted by the enemy's Indian scoundrels on every
occasion, where they had an opportunity of showing
their infamous cruelties on the King's subjects, which
they have done without mercy. Take your revenge,
but don't forget that tho* those villains have das-
tardly and promiscuously murdered the women and
children of all ages, it is my orders that no women
or children are killed or hurt.

When you have executed your intended service,
you will return with your detachment to camp or
join me wherever the army may be.

Your's, Sec.
Camp at Crown Point Jeff. Amherst.

Sept. 13, 17 59.
To Major Rogers.

In pursuance of the above orders, I set out the
same evening with a detachment; and as to the
particulars of my proceedings, and the great diffi-
culties we met with in effecting our design the
readers is referred to the letter I wrote to Genera!
Amherst upon my return, and the remarks follow-
ing it

Copy of my Letter to the General upon my return
from St. Francis.

SIR,

The twenty-second day after my departure from
Crown Point, I came in sight of the Indian town St.
Francis in the evening, which I discovered from a
tree that I climbed at about three miles distance.

[106]

Here I halted my party which now consisted of 142
men, officers included, being reduced to that number
by the unhappy accident jwhich befell Capt. Wil-
liams* and several since tiring, whom I was obliged
to sencTback. At eight o'clock this evening I left the
detachment, and took with me Lieut Turner and
Ensign Avery, and went to reconnoitre the town
which I did to my satisfaction, and found the In-
dians in a high frolic or dance. I returned to my
party at two o'clock, and at three marched it to
within five hundred yards of the town, where I
lightened the men of their packs and formed them
for the attack.

At half hour before sunrise I surprised the town
when they were all fast asleep, on the right, left, and
center, which was done with so much alacrity by both
the officers and men that the enemy had not time to
recover themselves, or take arms for their own
defense, till they were chiefly destroyed except some
few of them who took to the water. About forty
of my people pursued them, who destroyed such as
attempted to make their escape that way, and sunk
both them and their boats. A little after sunrise I set
fire to all their houses except three in which there
was earn that I reserved for the use of the party.

The fire consumed many of the Indians who had
concealed themselves in the cellars and lofts of theirs
houses. About seven o'clock in the morning the

* Ca.pt. Williams of the Royal Regiment was, the fifth day
of our march, accidentally burnt with gun powder, y*
several men hurt, which, together with some sick, returned
back to Crown Point, to the number of forty, under the care
of Capt. Williams who returned with great reluctance.

[107]

affair was completely over, in which time we had
killed at least tvgQ-Jiimdred Indians, and taken
twenty of their women and children prisoners, fifteen
of whom I let go their own way and five I brought
with me, viz. two Indian boys and three Indian girls.
I likewise retook five English captives which I also
took under my care.

When I had paraded my detachment, I found I
had Capt. Ogden badly wounded in his body, but
not so as to hinder him from doing his duty. I had
also six men slightly wounded and one Stockbridge
Indian killed.

I ordered my people to take corn out of the
reserved houses for their subsistence home, there
being no other provision there; and whilst they were
loading themselves I examined the prisoners and
captives who gave the following intelligence: "That
"a party of 300 French and some Indians were about
"four miles down the river below us; and that our
"boats were waylaid, which I had reason to believe
"was true as they told the exact number and the
"place where I left them at: that a party of 200
"French and fifteen Indians had, three days before
"I attacked the town, gone up the river Wigwam
"Martinique, supposing that was the place I in-
tended to attack; whereupon I called the officers
together, to consult the safety of our return, who
were of opinion there was no other way for us to
return with safety but by No. 4 cm Connecticut River.
I marched the detachment eight days in a body that
way; and when provisions grew scarce, near Mem-
phremagog Lake, jEjlivided the dejacfamgtjnto
small companies, putting proper guides to each, who

[108]

were to assemble at the mouth of Ammonoosuc
River* as I expected provisions would be brought
there for our relief,f not knowing which way I
should return.

Two days after we parted, Ensign Avery of
Fitche's fell in on my track, and followed in my rear;
and a party of the enemy came upon them, and took
seven of .his party prisoners, two of whom that night
made their escape and came in to me next morning.
Avery, with the remainder of his party, joined mine,
and came with me to the Coos Intervales where I left
them with Lieut. Grant from which place I, with
Capt. Ogden, and one man more, put down the river
on a small raft to this place, where I arrived yester-
day; and in half an hour after my arrival dispatched
provisions up the river to Lieut. Grant in a canoe,
which I am pretty certain will reach him this night,
and next morning sent two other canoes up the river
for the relief of the other parties, loaded with pro-
visions to the mouth of Ammonoosuc River.

I finally set off to go up the river myself to-
morrow to seek and bring in as many of our men as
I can find, and expect to be back in about eight days,
when I shall with all expedition return to Crown
Point. As to other particulars relative to this scout,
which your Execellency may think proper to inquire
after, I refer you to Capt. Ogden, who bears this and
has accompanied me all the time I have been out,

* Ammonoosuc River falls into Connecticut River about
fifty miles above No. 4.

t An officer, upon some intelligence that I had when going
out, was sent back to Crown Point from Missiquoi Bay, to
desire that provisions might be conveyed to this place, as I
had reason to believe we should be deprived of our boats, and
consequently be obliged to return this way.

[109]

behaving very well. I am, Sir, with the greatest
respect,

Your Excellency's most obedient servant,

JR. Rogers.
Nov. 5 ,1759.
To General Amherst.

I cannot forbear here making some remarks on the
difficulties and distresses which attended us in ef-
fecting this enterprise upon St. Francis, which is
situated within three miles of the river St. Lawrence,
in the middle of Canada, about halfway between
Montreal and Quebec. It has already been mentioned
how our party was reduced by the accident which
befell Capt. Williams the fifth day after our de-
parture, and still farther by numbers tiring and
falling sick afterwards. It was extremely difficult
while we kept the water (and which retarded our
progress very much) to pass undiscovered by the
enemy, who were then cruising in great numbers
upon the lake; and had prepared certain vessels, on
purpose to decoy any party of ours that might come
that way, armed with all manner of machines and
implements for their destruction; but we happily
escaped their snares of this kind, and landed (as
has been mentioned) the tenth day at Missiquoi Bay.
Here, that I might with more certainty know whether
my boats (with which I left provision sufficient to
carry us back to Crown Point) were discovered by
the enemy, I Jeft two trusty Indians, to lie at a
distance in sight of the boats, and there to stay till
I came back except the enemy found them; in which
latter case they were with all possible speed to follow

[110]

on my track, and give me intelligence. It happened
the second day after I left them that these two In-
dians came upon to me in the evening and informed
me that about 400 French Jiad discovered and taken
my boats, and that about one half of them were hotly
pursuing my track. This unlucky circumstance (it
may well be supposed) put us into some consterna-
tion. Should the enemy overtake us, and we get the
better of them in an encounter; yet being so far
advanced into their country where no reinforcement
could possibly relieve us, and where they could be
supported by any numbers they pleased, afforded us
little hopes of escaping their hands. Our boats being
taken cut off all hope of a retreat by them; besides,
the loss of our provisions left with them, of which we
knew we should have great need at any rate in case we
survived, was a melancholy consideration. It was
however resolved to prosecute our design at all ad-
ventures, and, when we had accomplished it, to
attempt a retreat (the only possible way we could
think of) by way of No. 4; and that we might not
be destroyed by famine in our return, J dispatched
Lieut. M'MuIlen by land to Crown Point to desire
of the funeral tfyrelieve me with provision at Am-
monoosuc River at the end of Coos Intervales on
Connecticut River, that being die way I should
return, if at all, and the place appointed being about
sixty miles from No. 4, then the most northerly
English settlement. This being done, we determined
if possible to outmarch our pursuers and effect our
design upon St. Francis before they could overtake
us.[We marched nine days through wet sunken
ground; the water most of the way near a foot deep,
it being a spruce bog. When we encamped at night,

[Ill]

we had no way to secure ourselves from the water
but by cutting the bows of trees, and with them
erecting a kind of hammocks. We commonly began
our march a little before day, and continued it till
after dark at night/

The tenth day after leaving Missiquoi Bay, we
came to a river about fifteen miles above the town
of St. Francis to the south of it; and the town being
on the opposite or east side of it, we were obliged
to ford it, which was attended with no small difficulty,
the water being five feet deep and the current swift.
I put the tallest men upstream, and then holding
by each other, we_got over with the loss of several of
our guns, some of which we recovered by diving to
the bottom for them. We had now good dry ground
to march upon, and discovered and destroyed the
town as before related, which in all probability
would have been effected with the loss of no man
but the Indian who was killed in the action had not
my boats been discovered and our retreat that way
cutoff.

This nation of Indians waskiotoriously attached to
the French, and had for near a century past harrassed
the frontiers of New England, killing Speople of all
ages and sexes in a most barbarous manner, at a time
when they did not in the least suspect them; and to
my own knowledge, in six years time, carried into
captivity, and killed, on the before mentioned fron-
tiers, 400 persons. We found in the town hanging on
poles over their doors, &cx about 600 scalps, mostly
English.}

The circumstances of our return are chiefly related
in the preceding letter; however, it is hardly possible
to describe the grief and consternation of those of

[112]

us who came to Coos Intervales. Upon our arrival
there (after so many days tedious march over steep
rocky mountains or thro* wet dirty swamps, with
the terrible attendants of fatigue and hunger) to find
that here was no relief for us, where we had en-
couraged ourselves that we should find it, and have
our distresses alleviated; for notwithstanding the
officer I dispatched to the General discharged his
trust with great expedition, and in nine days arrived
at Crown Point, which was a hundred miles thro' the
woods, and the General without delay sent Lieut.
Stephans to No. 4 with orders to take provisions up
the river to the place I had appointed, and there
wait as long as there was any hopes of my returning;
yet the officer that was sent being an indolent fellow,
tarried at the place but two days when he returned,
taking all the provisions back with him, about two
hours before our arrival. Finding a fresh fire burning
in his camp, I fired guns to bring him back, which
guns he heard but would not return supposing we
were an enemy.*

Our distress upon this occasion was truly inex-
pressible; our spirits, greatly depressed by the hunger
and fatigues we had already suffered, now almost
entirely sunk within us, seeing no resource left, nor
any reasonable ground to hope that we should escape
a most miserable death by famine. At length I came
to a resolution to push as fast as possible towards
No. 4 leaving the remains of my party, now unable

* This Gentleman, for f h*ff piece of conduct, was broke by
a general court-martial and rendered incapable of sustaining
any office in his Majesty's service for the future: a poor reward,
however, for the distresses and anguish thereby occasioned to
so many brave men to some of which it proved fatal, they
actually dying with hunger.

to march further, to get such wretched subsistence
as the banren wilderness could afford,* till I could
get relief to them, which I engaged to do within ten
days. I, with Capt. Odgen, one Ranger, and a captive
Indian boy, embarked upon a raft we had made of
dry pffie trees; "The current carried us down the
stream in the middle of the river, where we endeav-
oured to keep our wretched vessel by such paddles as
we had made out of small trees, or spires split and
hewed. The second day we reached White River Falls
and very narrowly escaped being carried over them
by the current. Our little remains of strength how-
ever enabled us to land, and to march by them. At
the bottom of these falls, while Capt. Ogden and
the Ranger hunted for red squirrels for a refreshment,
who had the good fortune likewise to kill a partridge,
I attempted the forming a new raft for our further
conveyance. Being not able to cut down trees, I
burnt them down, and then burnt them off at
proper lengths. This was our third day's work after
leaving our companions. The next day we got our
materials together, and completed our raft, and
floated with the stream again till we came to Ottau-
quechee Falls which are about fifty yards in length:
here we landed, and by a wreath made of hazel
bushes Capt. Odgen held the raft till I went to the
bottom, prepared to swim in and board it when it
came down, and if possible paddle it ashore, this
being our only resource fear life, as we were not able
to make a third raft in case we had lost this. I had

* This was ground-nuts and lilly roots, which being cleaned
and boiled will serve to preserve life, and the use and method
of preparing which I Uught to Lieut. Grant, commander of
the party.

[114]

the good fortune to succeed, and the next morning
we embarked, and floated down the stream to within
a small distance of No. 4 where we found some men
cutting timber, who gave us the first relief, and as-
sisted us to the fort from whence I dispatched a
canoe with provisions, which reached the men at
Coos four days after, which (agreeable to my engage-
ment) was the tenth after I left them.

Two days after my arrival at No. 4 I went with
other canoes, loaded with provisions, up the river
myself, for the relief of others of my party that might
be coming in that way,* having hired some of the
inhabitants to assist me in this affair. I likewise sent
expresses to Suncook and Penacoock upon Merrimack
River, that any who should chance to straggle that
way might be assisted; and provisions were sent up
said rivers accordingly.

On my return to No. 4 I waited a few days to re-
fresh such of my party I had been able to collect
together, and during my stay there received the
following letter from General Amherst in answer to
mine of Nov. 5.

SIR, Crown Point, Nov, 8, 1759.

Captain Odgen delivered me your letter of the
5th instant, for which I am not only to thank you,
but to assure you of the satisfaction I had on reading
it; as every step you inform me you have taken has

I met several different parties- as Lieut. Curgill, Lieut.
Campbell, Lieut. Farrington, and Sergeant Evans, with their
respective divisions, and sent canoes further up for the relief
of such as might be still behind and coming this way. Some
I met who escaped from Dunbar's and Turner's party, who
were overtaken (being upwards of twenty in number) and
were mostly killed or taken by the enemy.

[115]

been very well judged, and deserves my full approba-
tion. I am sorry Lieut. Stephans judged so ill in
coming away with the provisions from the place
where I sent him to wait for you.

An Indian came in last night and said he had left
some of your party at Otter River. I sent for them;
they came in. This afternoon four Indians, two
Rangers, a German woman, and three other pris-
oners; they quitted four of your party some days
since, and thought they had arrived here.* I am in
hopes all the rest will get in very safe. I think there
is no danger but they will as you quitted them not
till having marched eight days in a body; the only
risk after that will be meeting hunting parties. I
am, Sir,

Your humble servant,

To Major Rogers. Jeff. Amherst.

As soon as my party were refreshed, such as were
able I marched to Crown Point, where I arrived
Dec. 1, 1759, and upon examination found that,
since our leaving the ruins of St. Francis, I had lost
three officers, viz. Lieut. Dunbar of Gage's Light
Infantry, Lieut. Turner of the Rangers, and Lieut.
Jenkins of the Provincials, and forty-six sergeants
and privates.

The Rangers at that place were all dismissed
before my return, excepting two companies com-
manded by Captains Johnson and Tute f with whom

* Upon our separation, some of the divisions were ordered
to make for Crown Point, that being the best route for hunt-
ing.

fCapt. Tute, who had been taken prisoner, was returned
by a flag of truce while I was gone to St. Francis.

[116]

I found orders left by the General for me to con-
tinue at that garrison during the winter, but had
leave however to go down the country and to wait
upon his Excellency at New York.

After giving in my return to the General, and
what intelligence I could of the enemy's situation,
he desired me when 1 had leisure to draw a plan
of my march to St. Francis; and then by his order
I returned by the way of Albany; which place I left
the 6th of February 1760 with thirteen recruits I
had enlisted; and the 13th, on my way between
Ticonderoga and Crown Point, my party was at-
tacked by about sixty Indians, who killed five and
took four prisoners. I, with the remainder, made
my escape to Crown Point from whence I would
have pursued them immediately; but Col. Haviland,
the commanding officer there, judged it not prudent
by reason the garrison at that time was very sickly.*
I continued at Crown Point the remainder of the
winter.

On the Slst of March, CapL James Tute, with
two regular officers and six men, went out ascouting
and were all made prisoners; the enemy was not
pursued on account of the sickness of the garrison.

The same day I received from General Amherst
the following letter.

SIR, New York, March 1, 1760.

The command I have received from his Majesty,
to pursue the war in this country, has determined

* My own sled was taken with 11961. York currency in cash,
besides stores and other necessaries; 8ooL of this money be-
longed to the crown, which was afterwards allowed me, the
remaining 3961. was my own, which I entirely lost.

[117]

me if possible to complete the companies of Rangers
that were on foot last campaign; and as Capt. Wait
called upon me yesterday, and represented that he
could easily complete the one he commands in the
colony of Connecticut and the Province of the Mas-
sachusetts Bay, I have furnished him with beating
orders for that purpose, as also with a warrant for
800 dollars on account of that service.

This day I have written to Capt. John Stark, in
New Hampshire and Capt. David Brewer in the
Massachusetts Bay, enclosing to each of them a
beating order for the respective provinces; and I
herewith send you a copy of the instructions that
accompany the same, by which you will see they are
ordered as fast as they get any number of men to
send them to Albany. I am, SIR,

Your humble servant,
To Major Rogers. Jeff. Amkcrst.

My answer to the above.

SIR, Crown Point, March 15, 1760.

I received your Excellency's letter, dated the 1st
instant, together with a copy of your instructions to
Capt. John Stark and Capt. David Brewer, whereby
I learn that they are to be at Albany by the 1st of
May next with their companies. Since I received
intelligence from your Excellency that the Rangers
are to be raised again, I have written to several of
my friends in New England, who will assist them in
completing their companies; and as many of the
men belonging to the two companies here were frost-
bitten in the winter, and others sick, many of whom

[118]

I judged would not be fit for service the ensuing
campaign, I employed Lieut. M'Cormack, of Capt.
William Stark's company (that was with Major
Scott) , Lieut. John Fletcher, and one Holmes, and
sent them recruiting the 2Qth of February for my
own and Captain Johnson's company, and advanced
them 1100 dollars. These three recruiters I do not
doubt will bring good men enough to complete us
here; so that those who are frostbitten may be sent
to hospitals, and those unfit for duty discharged, or
otherwise disposed of, as your Excellency shall direct.
There being so few Rangers fit for duty here, and
those that are much wanted at this place, has pre-
vented me from proposing any tour to the French
and Indian settlements in pursuit of a prisoner,
which may, I believe, be easily got at any time if
sent for. I am, SIR,

Your Excellency's

most obedient humble servant,

R. Rogers.
To General Amherst. *

A letter from General Amherst.

Sm, New York, 9th March 1760.

As I have not heard that either of the Jacobs, who
each commanded a company of Stockbridge Indians
the last campaign, are returned from their captivity,
I would have you write (ifryou think Lieut. Solomon
capable of and fit for sych a command) to him to
know if he chooses to accept of the same; but it must
be upon condition of bringing to the field none but

good men that are well inclined, and that are hale
and strong. Whatever number he or any of his
friends can raise that will answer this description, I
will readily employ this summer, and they shall
meet with all the encouragment their services shall
merit. All others that are too old or too young I shall
reject, nor shall I make them any allowance of pay-
ment, altho' they should join the army; so that, in
order to prevent his having any difference with
these people, it will behoove him to engage none
but what shall be esteemed fit for the service; he
must also observe to be assembled with them at
Albany by the 1st of May at furthest, from which
day he and they shall be entitled to their pay, that
is for so many as shall be mustered there, and for no
more; he must likewise take care that every man
comes provided with a good firelock, and that they
be always ready to march at a moment's warning,
wherever they are ordered to, in default of which
they shall forfeit their pay that shall be due to them
at that time. All this you will explain to him par-
ticularly, and so soon as you receive his answer, in-
form me thereof. As an encouragement to enter the
service upon the foregoing conditions, you may as-
sure him also, that if he conforms to them in every
respect, and that he and his men prove useful, they
shall be better rewarded than they have yet been.

Capt. Ogden having solicited me for a company
of Rangers, assured me that he could raise and com-
plete a very good one in the Jerseys; I have given
him a beating order for that purpose, and instruc-
tions similar to those I sent you a copy of in my last
for Captains Stark and Brewer, and have also granted
him a warrant for five hundred dollars, on account

[120]

of the bounty money, to be as usual stopped out of
the first warrant for the subsistence of that company.
I am, SIR,

Your humble servant,

To Major Rogers. Jeff. Amherst.

My Letter to the General.

Crown Point, 20th March 1760.

SIR,

I observe the contents of your Excellency's letter
of the 19th, and shall take particular care to let
Lieut. Solomon know every circumstance relative
to his being employed the next summer, and to ad-
vise your Excellency as soon as I hear from him. He
has already informed me he would be glad to engage
with some Indians.

Mr. Stuart, the Adjutant of the Rangers, who is
at Albany, I have desired to go to Stockbridge to
deliver Solomon his orders, and to explain them
properly to him.

I am heartily glad that your Excellency has been
pleased to give to Capt. Ogden a company of the
Rangers, who, from the good character he bears, I
doubt not will answer your expectations.

Enclosed is a sketch of my travels to and from St.
Francis. I am, Sir,

Your Excellency's most humble servant,
To General Amherst. R. Rogers.

[121]
The General's Letter to me.

SIR, New York, 6th April 1760.

I am to own the receipt of your letters of the 15th
and 20th ultimo, and to approve what you therein
mention to have done for completing your and Capt,
Johnson's company; as also your having sent Ad-
jutant Stuart to Stockbridge to deliver Solomon his
orders, and to explain them properly to him. This
will avoid all mistakes, and enable you the sooner
to inform me of Solomon's intentions, which I shall
be glad to know as soon as possible.

I thank you for your sketch of your travels to and
from St. Francis, and am, Sir,

Your very humble servant,
To Major Rogers. Jeff. Amkerst.

Soon after this I had the pleasure of informing
the General that the Stockbridge Indians determined
to enter the service this year; but as many of them
were out ahunting, that they could not be collected
at Albany before the 10th of May; and that the re-
cruits of the ranging companies began to assemble
at Crown Point

May 4, 1760. This day Sergeant Beverly, who had
been taken prisoner and made his escape, came in
seven days from Montreal to Crown Point He had
lived at the Governor's (Monsieur de Vaudreuil)
house, and brought the following intelligence which
I immediately transmitted to the General, viz.

"That about the 10th of April the enemy with-
"drew all their troops from Nut Island, excepting

[122]

"300 which they left there to garrison the place
"under the command of Monsieur Bougainville: that
"the enemy also brought from the island one half
"of the ammunition they had there and half of the
"cannon: that the enemy had two frigates, one of
"36 guns, the other of 20 guns, that lay all winter
"in the river St. Lawrence, and some other small
"vessels, such as row-galleys, &c.: that all the troops
"of France in Canada went down to Jacques-Cartier
"the 20th of April, except those left to garrison their
"fort, which was very slenderly done, together with
"all the militia that could be spared out of the
"country, leaving only one man to two females to
"sow their grain, where they were assembled by
"Monsieur Levis, their General, with an intent to
"retake Quebec*: that ninety-six men of the enemy
"were drowned going down to Jacques-Cartier: that
"he saw a man who was taken prisoner the 15th of
"April, belonging to our troops at Quebec: that this
"man told him our garrison there was healthy; and
"that Brigadier General Murray had 4000 men fit
"for duty in the city besides a post of 300 men at
"Point Levy, which the enemy attempted to take
"possession of in the month of February last with
"a considerable body of troops, and began to fortify
"a church at or near the Point, but that General
"Murray sent over a detachment of about 1000 men,
"which drove the enemy from their post, and took
"a Captain with about thirty French soldiers pris-
"oners, and fortified the church for his own con-
"venience: that the General has another post on the

* This place, the capital of all Canada, had been taken by
the English troops last year under the command of General
Wolfe.

[125]

"north-side of the river at Lorette, a little distance
"from the town, in which he keeps 300 men: that
"there is a line of blockhouses well fortified all round
"the land-side of the town under cover of the can-
"non: that a breastwork of frazes is extended from
"one blockhouse to another as far as those houses
"extend: that they heard at Quebec of the enemy's
"coming but were not in the least concerned: that
"a detachment from Quebec surprised two of the
"enemy's guards at a place called Pointe aux Trem-
"bles, each guard consisting of fifty men, and killed
"or took the most part of them. One of those guards
"were all grenadiers."

He moreover reports, "That two more of our
"frigates had got up the river, and that two more
"men of war were near the Island of Orleans: that
"the French told him that there was a fleet of ten
"sail of men of war seen at Gaspe Bay with some
"transports, but put back to sea again on account
"of the ice; but as they had up different odours,
"they could not tell whether they were French or
"English: that the beginning of May the enemy was
"to draw off 2000 of their men to Nut Island, and
"as many more to Oswegatchi: he heard that they
"did not intend to attack Quebec except the French
"fleet gets up the river before ours: that 100 Indians
"were to come this way, and set out about the fifth
"of May; the remainder of the Indians were at
"present gone to Jacques-Garden that Gen. Lvis
"the Ottawas, and Cold Country Indians will all be
"in Canada by the beginning of June, ten Sachems
"being sent by the French last fall to call those
"nations to their assistance: that a great number had
"deserted to the French from the battalion of Royal

[124]

"Americans at Quebec, which the French have en-
"gaged in their service; but that they were to be
"sent off under the care of Monsieur Boarbier up
"to Ottawa River to the French colony betwixt the
"lakes and the Mississippi River: that the most part
"of the enemy's Indians are intent on going there;
"and that a great number of French, especially those
"who have money, think to save it by carrying it to
"New Orleans: that he saw at Montreal two Rangers,
"Reynolds and Hall, that were returned by CoL
"Haviland deserted last fall: that they were taken
"prisoners near Riverhead Blockhouse when after
"cattle: that two more Rangers are to be here in ten
"days with fresh intelligence from Montreal, if they
"can possibly make their escape: that Monsieur
"Langy, the famous partisan, was drowned in the
"river St. Lawrence a few days after he returned
"with the party that took Capt. Tute: that the
"Indians have a great eye to the No. 4 roads as they
"say they can get sheep and oxen coming here from
"that place: that he heard Gen. Murray had hanged
"several Canadians lately that were carrying am-
"munition out of Quebec to the enemy: that the
"two Captains Jacobs are still in Canada; the one
"taken with Capt. Kennedy is on board a vessel in
"irons, the other ran away last fall but returned,
"having froze his feet, and is at Montreal."

A few days after this, I went down the Lake
Champlain to reconnoitre Nut Island and the gar-
rison there, the landing places, fcc. On my return
from that service to Crown Point, I had an order
from Gen. Amherst to repair to Albany, the head-
quarters, as fast as possible.
I set out in obedience to this order the 18th of

[125]

May, and waited upon the General at Albany the
23d, and gave him all the information I could in
regard to the passage into Canada by the Isle aux
Noix, or Nut Island, and likewise that by Oswego
and La Galette.

The General being acquainted by an express that
Quebec was then besieged by the French, informed
me of his intentions of sending me with a party into
Canada, and if the siege of Quebec was continued,
to destroy their country as far as possible, and by
constantly marching from one place to another try
to draw oft the enemy's troops, and prolong the
siege till our vessels got up the river. He strongly
recommended, and ordered me to govern myself
according to the motions of the French army: to
retreat if they had raised the siege; and in case, by
prisoners or otherwise, I should find the siege still
going on, to harrass the country, tho* it were at the
expense of my party. I had at the same time the
following instructions from him in writing:

Major Rogers, you are to take under your com-
mand a party of 300 men composed of 275 Rangers
with their proper officers and a subaltern, two ser-
geants, and twenty-five men of the Light Infantry
regiments; with which detachment you will proceed
down the lake, under convoy of the brig, where you
will fix upon the safest and best place for laying up
your boats, which I imagine one of the islands will
best answer, while you are executing the following
services.

You will with 250 men land on the west side in
such manner that you may get to St. John's (with-
out the enemy at the Isle aux Noix having any in-

[126]

telligence of it) where you will try to surprise the
fort and destroy the vessels, boats, provisions, or
whatever else may be there for the use of the troops
at the Isle aux Noix. You will then march to Fort
Chambly where you will do the same, and you will
destroy every magazine you can find in that part so
as to distress the enemy as much as you can. This
will soon be known at the Isle aux Noix, and you
must take care not to be cut off in your retreat; for
which reason, when you have done all you think
practicable on the western side; I judge your best
and safest retreat will be to cross the river and
march back the east side of Isle aux Noix. When
you land on the west side, you will send such officer
with the fifty Rangers as you think will best answer
their intended service, which is to march for Wigwam
Martinique, to destroy what he may find there and
on the east side of the river, and afterwards to join
you, or to retreat in such manner as you will direct
him. You will take such provisions as you judge
necessary with you and fix with Capt. Grant (who
shall have orders to wait for your return) the places
where he may look out for you when you come back.
You will take your men as light with you as pos-
sible, and give them all the necessary caution for
the conduct, and their obedience to their officers;
no firing without order, no unnecessary alarms, no
retreating without an order; they are to stick by one
another and nothing can hurt them; let every man
whose firelock will carry it have a bayonet; you are
not to suffer the Indians to destroy women or chil-
dren, no plunder to be taken to load your men who
shall be rewarded at their return as they deserve.
May 25, 1760. Jeff. Amherst.

[127]

With the above instructions the General delivered
me a letter directed to General Murray at Quebec,
desiring me to convey it to him in such manner as
I thought would be quickest and safest.

Having received these instructions I returned to
Crown Point as fast as possible, and about the be-
ginning of June set out from thence with a party of
two hundred and fifty men* down Lake Champlain,
having four vessels, on board of which this detach-
ment embarked, putting our boats and provisions
into them, that the enemy might have less oppor-
tunity of discovering our designs.

The 3d, I landed Lieut. Holmes with fifty men
in Missiquoi Bay, and gave him proper directions
agreeable to my orders from the General, informing
him that one of the sloops should cruise for him till
his return, which upon signals that were given him
would take him on board, upon which he was to
join me or wait on board till my return, as the
situation of affairs might direct him. Here likewise
I sent the letter I had received from the General
to Brigadier Murray, thro* the woods, and gave the
following instructions to the officer I intrusted with
it, viz.

Instructions for Sergeant Beverly of his
Majesty's Rangers.

You are hereby directed to take under your com-
mand there three men, viz. John Shute, Luxford

*Thc Stockbridge Indians who had been mustered at and
now marched from Albany, and who were to be a part of the
detachment of 300 agreeable to the General's orders, had not
arrived at Crown Point at the tune of my embarkation, but
were ordered to follow after and join me.

[128]

Goodwin, and Joseph Eastman, and march them
from Missiquoi Bay, to which place you will be
convoyed by Lieut. Holmes with a party I have sent
there for a particular purpose; you are to land in the
night time as otherwise you may be discovered by
a party from the Isle aux Noix; you will steer your
course about north-east, and make all the dispatch
you possibly can with the letter in your charge to
Quebec, or to the English army at or near that
place, and deliver it to Brigadier Murray, or to the
officer commanding his Majesty's forces in or upon
the river St. Lawrence. A sketch of the country will
be delivered you with these orders that you may the
better know the considerable rivers you have to cross
betwixt Missiquoi Bay and Quebec. The distances
are marked in the draught, as is the road I travelled
in last fall, from Missiquoi Bay to St. Francis, which
road you will cross several times if you keep the
course I before directed. The rivers are so plainly
described in the plan that you will know them when
you come to them. The river St. Francis is about
half-way of your journey, and is very still water, and
may be easily rafted where you cross it; but lower
down it is so swift and rapid that you must not at-
tempt it. Chaudiere River you will likewise be
obliged to pass on a raft; it is swift water for some
miles from its mouth; you had better examine it well
before you attempt to cross it. As soon as you pass
this river, steer your course about east, leaving Point
Levy on your left hand, and fall in with the river
St. Lawrence, near the lower end of the island of
Orleans, as it may be possible that Gen. Murray may
have encamped the army either at the isle of Orleans
or the Isle aux Coudres; therefore you are not to

[129]

depend on finding at once the exact place of his
encampment, but are positively ordered to look out
for the English fleet, and the first line of battle ship
you see, you are to venture on board, as I think it
not possible the enemy should have any large ships
there, and whatever English ship you get on board of
will convoy you directly to General Murray, when
you will deliver him the verbal message I told you.
You may apply to the General for fifty pounds, who
will pay it to you, and also give you proper direc-
tions to join me as soon as you have rested yourself
from your march. I wish you a good journey, and am,

Your's, &c.
To Sergeant Beverly. Robert Rogers.

As soon as I had dispatched the two parties before
mentioned, I, with the remainder, crossed Lake
Champlain to the west side, and the 4th in the
morning got into my boats, and landed with about
200 men about twelve miles south of the Isle aux
Noix with an intent to put in execution the Gen-
eral's orders to me of May 5th with all speed* Capt.
Grant sent the two sloops to attend, which I or-
dered to cruise further down the lake than where I
landed and nearer to their fort to command the at-
tention of the enemy till I could get into their coun-
try. I lay still all the 5th, there being a heavy rain,
and the bushes so wet that both we and our provi-
sions would have been greatly exposed by a march.

In the afternoon of this day, several French boats
appeared on the Lake, which were discovered by the
two sloops as well as by my party on the shore. These
boats continued as near as they could to our vessels

[130]

without endangering themselves, till after dark.
Concluding their boats would cruise the whole night
to watch the motions of our sloops, I imagined it
would be a prudent step to send the sloops back to
Capt. Grant, the commander of these vessels, who
lay near Isle la Motte; I accordingly went to the
sloops in a boat after dark and ordered them to
return. The enemy, who kept all night in their
boats, having by a strict look-out discovered where
I landed, sent a detachment from the island next
morning to cut off my party. I discovered their in-
tentions by my reconnoitring parties, who counted
them as they crossed from the fort in the morning
in their boats to the west shore, and informed me
that they were 350 in number. I had intelligence
again when they were about a mile from us. Half
after eleven they attacked me very briskly on my
left, having on my right a bog, which they did not
venture over, thro* which, however, by the edge of
the lake, I sent seventy of my party to get round and
attack them in the rear. This party was commanded
by Lieut. Farrington. As soon as he began his attack,
I pushed them in front, which broke them im-
mediately. I pursued them with the greatest part
of my people about a mile, where they retired to a
thick cedar swamp, and divided into small parties.
By this time it rained again very hard. I called my
party immediately together at the boats where I
found that Ensign Wood of the 17th regiment was
killed, Capt. Johnson wounded through the body, a
second shot thro' his left arm, and a third in his head.
I had two men of the Light Infantry and eight
Rangers wounded and sixteen Rangers killed. We

[131]

killed forty of the enemy and recovered about fifty
firelocks. Their commanding officer, Monsieur la
Force, was mortally hurt and several of the party
were likewise wounded. After the action I got the
killed and maimed of my detachment together in
bateaux, returned with them to the Isle la Motte near
which the brig lay. I dispatched one of the vessels to
Crown Point, on board of which was put the corpse
of Mr. Wood, but Capt. Johnson died on his passage
thither; this vessel I ordered to bring more provi-
sions. I buried the rest of the dead on an island, and
then began to prepare for a second landing; being
joined about this time by the Stockbridge Indian
Company, I was determined at all adventures to
pursue my orders, settled the plan of landing, and
left the following instructions with Capt. Grant, viz.

You will be so good as to fall down the lake
with your vessels as soon as possible as far as the
Wind Mill Point, or near where you lay at anchor
the last time I was v^th you, and cruise near it for
two or three days, which will be the only method I
can think of that has any appearance of attracting the
attention of the enemy till I get into their country;
as soon as I observe or think you pretty near the
Wind Mill Point, I shall land with my party on the
west side opposite to the north of the Isle la Motte, in
the river that runs into the bay which forms itself
there, and from thence proceed to execute the Gen-
eral's orders. If they do not attack me in my march
till I complete my design, you may be certain I shall
come back on the east side and endeavour to join
you near the Wind Mill Point, or betwixt that and

[132]

the Isle la Matte. When I arrive, the signal that
I will make for your discovering me will be a smoke
and three guns at a minute's interval each from the
other and repeated a second time in half an hour
after the first; but if the enemy should attack me
on my march before I get to the place I am ordered,
which I believe they will do, in case I am worsted I
shall be obliged to come back on the west side, and
shall make the before mentioned signals betwixt the
Isle la Motte and the place where I had the battle
with the enemy the 6th instant. It is uncertain when
I shall be at either shore; so that I would recommend
it to you not to come back south of the Isle la Motte
till my return, as a contrary wind might prevent your
getting in with your vessels to relieve me. I send you
Sergeant Hacket and ten Rangers to be with you
in my absence as we this day agreed. If Lieutenant
Darcy comes down in season to go with me, I shall
leave Ensign Wilson with you; but if Darcy should
not come till after I land, you'll be pleased to take
him under your direction, as well as all those that
may come with him to join me; tho' I would recom-
mend it not to send any party to the island to take
a prisoner till the fifth day after my landing, as the
loss of a man from us may be of very bad conse-
quence. Lieutenant Holmes has appointed between
the eleventh and sixteenth day after his landing for
his return to Missiquoi Bay and from the eleventh
to the sixteenth as before mentioned; I should be
glad the sloop might cruise for him at the place
he appointed to meet her. I am, SIR,

Your humble servant,

JR. Rogers.

1133J

I cannot but observe with pleasure that Mr. Grant,
like an able officer, very diligently did all that could
be expected of him for the good of the service, care-
fully attending with his vessels till my return from
this second excursion on which I embarked with
two hundred and twenty men, officers included, and
landed the 9th of June about midnight on the west
shore opposite the Isle la Motte, from thence
marched as flat as possible to St. John's, and came
to the road that leads from it to Montreal, about
two miles from the fort, the evening of the 1 5th. At
eleven o'clock this night, I marched with an intent
to surprise the fort, to within four hundred yards of
it, where I halted to reconnoitre; which I did, and
found they had more men than I expected. The
number of the sentries within the fort were seven-
teen and so well fixed that I thought it was impos-
sible for me to take the place by surprise, especially
as they had seen me and fired several guns accord-
ingly. I left it at two o'clock and marched down the
river to St. Th6rtse; at break of day I reconnoitred
this place and found that the enemy had in it a
stockaded fort defensible against small arms. I ob-
served two large store-houses in the inside, and that
the enemy were carting hay into the fort. I waited
for an opportunity when the can had just entered
the gateway, ran forward, and got into the fort before
they could dear the way for shutting the gate. I had
at this time sent different parties to the several
houses, about fifteen in number, which were near the
fort, and were all surprised at the same instant of
time, and without firing a single gun. We took in
the fort twenty-four soldiers and in the houses

[184]

seventy-eight prisoners, women and children in-
cluded; some young men made their escape to Cham-
bly. I examined the prisoners, and found I could
not proceed to Chambly with any prospect of success;
therefore concluded my best way was to burn the fort
and village, which I did together with a considerable
magazine of hay and some provisions, with every
bateau and canoe except eight bateaux which I kept
to cross the river, and there afterwards cut to pieces:
we also killed their cattle, horses, &c. destroyed their
wagons, and every other thing which we thought
could ever be of service to the enemy. When this
was done, I sent back the women and children, and
gave them a pass to go to Montreal, directed to the
several officers of the different detachments under
my command. I continued my march on the east side
of Lake Champlain, and when passing by Missiquoi
Bay, opposite the Isle aux Noix my advance party,
and the advance party of about 800 French, that
were out after me from their fort, engaged with each
other; but the body of the enemy, being about a
mile behind their advance party, retreated, to my
great satisfaction. I pursued my march with all
possible speed: and the same day, being the 20th
day of June, arrived at the lake opposite where the
vessels lay; and as I had sent a few men forward to
repeat the signals, the boats met us at the shore* We
directly put on board, the enemy soon after appeared
on the shore where we embarked. I had not at this
time any account from Lieutenant Holmes, either by
prisoners or otherways.

Upon examination the prisoners reported, (some
of them had been at the siege of Quebec) "that the
"French lost five hundred men there; and that they

[135]

"retreated after twelve days bombarding and can-
"nonading, and came to Jacques-Quartier, where
"General Lvis left five hundred men, being composed
"of a picket of each battalion of the army, and that
"there were four hundred Canadians who stayed
"voluntarily with them; that the rest of the army was
"quartered by twos and threes on the inhabitants
"from there to St. John's. In Montreal there are
"about a hundred and fifty troops and the inhabit-
"ants do duty. That in Chambly Fort are about one
"hundred and fifty men, including workmen; and the
"remnant of the Queen's Regiment are in the village.
"That there are twelve cannon at St. John's and
"about three hundred men, including workmen, who
"are obliged to take arms on any alarm. That at the
"Isle aux Noix are about eight hundred stationed,
"besides the scouts between that and Montreal. That
"there are about a hundred pieces of cannon there."
This is the substance of their report, in which they
all agree, and which, with an account of my pro-
ceedings, I transmitted to the General.

On the 21st I put the twenty-six prisoners on board
one of the vessels, with fifty men of my detachment,
and ordered to proceed to Crown Point, and tarried
with the other vessels to cover Mr. Holmes 9 retreat,
who joined us the same evening, without having
succeeded in his enterprise, missing his way by follow-
ing down a river that falls into Sonel instead of that
called Wigwam Martinique which empties itself into
St. Lawrence at Lake St. Francis. I arrived at Crown
Point the 23rd of June and encamped my Rangers on
the east shore opposite the fort.

The following letter I received from General Am-
herst, dated at Canajoharie, June 26, 1760.

[136]
SIR,

Colonel Haviland sent me your letter of June
21, -which I received last night, and saw with pleasure
you had returned without the loss of a man of your
party, and that you had done every thing that was
prudent for you to attempt with the number of men
you had under your command. From the situation
the enemy is now in, by being forced back to their
former quarters, on Governor Murray's having
obliged them to abandon their cannon and raise
the siege of Quebec, I hope Lieutenant Holmes will
return with equal success as you have done. I am,
Sir,

Your humble servant,

To Major Rogers. Jeff. Amherst.

I remained at Crown Point with my people with-
out effecting anything considerable, more than in
small reconnoitring the country about the fort,
while everything was got in readiness for embark-
ing the army the 16th of August; which was done
accordingly, having one brig, three sloops, and four
radeaux, which latter were occupied by the royal
train of artillery commanded by Lieut. Colonel Ord.
Our order of march was as follows, viz.

Six hundred Rangers and seventy Indians in
whaleboats in the from, commanded by Major
Rogers, as an advanced guard for the whole army,
all in a line abreast about half a mile ahead of the
main body, followed by the light infantry and
grenadiers in two columns, two boats abreast in each
column, commanded by CoL Darby. The right wing
was composed of Provincials, commanded by Briga-

[1S7]

dier Ruggles who was second in command of the
whole army. The left was made up of New Hamp-
shire and Boston troops, commanded by Col.
Thomas. The seventeenth and twenty-seventh regi-
ments, with some few of the Royals, that fonned
the center column were commanded by Major Camp-
bell of the 17th regiment. Col. Haviland was in the
front of these divisions, between that and the light
infantry and grenadiers. The royal artillery followed
the columns and was commanded by Colonel Ord
who had, for his escort, one Rhode Island regiment
of Provincials. The sutlers, Sec. followed the artillery.
In this manner we rowed down the lake forty miles
the first day, putting ashore where there was good
landing on the west side, and there encamped.

The day following we lay by. The 18th, the wind
blowing fresh at south, orders were given for embark-
ing, and the same day reached a place on the west
shore, within ten miles of the Isle la Motte, where
the army encamped. It having blown a fresh gale
most part of the day, some of my boats split open by
the violence of the waves, and ten of my Rangers
were thereby drowned.

The 19th we set sail again early in the morning,
and that night encamped on the north-end of the
Isle la Motte.

The 20th, before day, the army was under way,
with intention to land; having but twenty miles to
go, and having the advantage of a fair wind, we
soon came in sight of the French fort, and about ten
in the morning Col. Darby, with the Grenadiers and
Light Infantry, and myself with the Rangers, landed
on the east shore, and marched and took possession
of the ground opposite the fort cm that side, without

[1S8]

the least opposition. Having done this, an officer
was sent to acquaint Col. Haviland (who with the
remainder of the army, was at the place where we
landed) that there was not the least danger to ap-
prehend from the enemy. The next day we began
to raise batteries, and soon after to throw some shells
into the garrison. About the 24th a proposal was
made for taking the enemy's vessels, three of which
were at anchor a little below the fort, and some of
their radeaux likewise. It was introduced by Col.
Darby, who was ordered to take the command of
the party appointed for this service, which consisted
of two companies of Regulars and four companies
of my Rangers with the Indians. We carried with
us two light howitzers and one six-pounder, and
silently conveying them along thro' the trees brought
them opposite the vessels, and began a brisk fire
upon them before they were in the least apprised of
our design, and by good fortune the first shot from
the six-pounder cut the cable of the great radeau,
and the wind being at west blew her to the east shore
where we were, and the other vessels weighed anchor
and made for St. John's, but got all aground in turn-
ing a point about two miles below the fort. I was by
CoL Darby ordered down the east shore with my
Rangers and crossed a river of about thirty yards
wide which falls into Lake Champlain from the east.
I soon got opposite the vessels, and by firing from the
shore gave an opportunity to some of my party to
swim on board with their tomahawks, and took
one of the vessels; in the mean time CoL Darby had
got on board the radeau, and had her manned, and
took the other two; of which success he immediately
aquainted CoL Haviland who sent down a sufficient

[139]

number of men to take charge of and man the vessels;
and ordered the remainder of the Rangers, Light
Infantry and Grenadiers, to join the army that night,
which was accordingly done; and about midnight the
night following the French troops left the island,
and landed safe on the main; so that next morning
nothing of them was to be seen but a few sick, and
Col. Haviland took possession of the fort.

The second day after the departure of Mons. Bou-
gainville and his troops from the island, Mr. Havi-
land sent me with my Rangers to pursue him as far
as St. John's Fort which was about twenty miles
further down the lake, and at that place I was to
wait the coming of the army, but by no means to
follow further than that fort nor run any risk of
advancing further towards Montreal. I went in boats,
and about daylight got to St. John's, and found it
just set on fire. I pursued, and took two prisoners
who reported, "That Mon& Bougainville was to
"encamp that night about halfway on the road to
"Montreal; and that he went from St. John's about
"nine o'clock the night before; but that many of
"their men were side, and that they thought some
"of the troops would not reach the place appointed
"till the middle of the afternoon." It being now
about seven in the morning, I set all hands to work,
except proper guards, to fortify the loghouses that
stood near the lakeside, in order that part of my
people might cover the bateaux, while I with the
remainder followed Mons. Bougainville, and about
eight o'clock I got so well fortified that I ventured
our boats and baggage under the care of 200
Rangers, and took with me 400 together with the
two companies of Indians, and followed after the

[140]

French army, which consisted of about 1500 men
and about 100 Indians they had to guard them. I
was resolved to make his dance a little the merrier,
and pursued with such haste that I overtook his rear
guard about two miles before they got to their
encamping ground. I immediately attacked them,
who, not being above 200, suddenly broke and then
stood for the main body, which I very eagerly pur-
sued but in good order expecting Mons. Bougainville
would have made a stand, which however he did not
choose but pushed forward to get to the river where
they were to encamp, and having crossed it pulled
up the bridge, which put a stop to my march not
judging it prudent to cross at a disadvantage inas-
much as the enemy had a good breastwork on the
other side, of which they took possession; in this
pursuit however we considerably lessened their num-
ber and returned in safety.

In the evening Mr. Haviland came in sight, and
landed at St. John's. As soon as he came on shore,
I waited upon him, and acquainted him with what
I had done, &c. and that I had two prisoners for
him; he said it was very well, and ordered his troops
to encamp there that night, and next day went down
the river Sorel as far as St. Th&rfcse where he en-
camped, and made a strong breast work to defend
his people from being surprised. I was sent down the
river Sorel to bring the inhabitants under subjec-
tion to his Britannic Majesty, and went into their
settled country in the night, took all their priests
and militia officers, and sent some of them for the
inhabitants. The first day I caused all the inhabitants
near Chambly to take the oaths of allegiance, 8cc.
who appeared glad to have it in their power to take

[141]

the oaths and keep their possessions and were all
extremely submissive. Having obliged them to bring
in their arms, and fulfilled my instructions in the
best manner I could, I joined Col. Darby at Cham-
bly, who came there to take the fort and had brought
with him some light cannon. It soon surrendered,
as the garrison consisted only of about fifty men.
This happened on the first of September.

On the 2nd, our army having nothing to do, and
having good intelligence both from Gen. Amherst
and Gen. Murray, Mr. Haviland sent me to join
the latter, while he marched with the rest of the
army for Laprairie. The 5th in the morning I got
to Longueuil, about four miles below Montreal,
opposite to where Brigadier Murray lay, and gave
him notice of my arrival, but not till the morning of
the 6th by reason of my arriving so late.

By the time I came to Longueuil, the army under
the command of Gen. Amherst had landed about
two miles from the town where they encamped; and
early this morning Monsieur de Vaudreuil, the gov-
ernor and commander in chief of all Canada, sent
out to capitulate with our General, which put a stop
to all our movements till the 8th of September, when
the articles of capitulation were agreed to and
signed, and our troops took possession of the town
gates that night. Next morning the Light Infantry,
and Grenadiers of the whole army, under the com-
mand of Col. Haldiman, with a company of the
royal artillery, with two pieces of cannon and some
howitzers, entered the town, retaking the English
colours belonging to Pepperel's and Shirley's regi-
ments which had been taken by the French at
Oswego.

[142]

Thus, at length, at the end of the fifth campaign,
Montreal and the whole country of Canada was
given up, and became subject to the King of Great
Britain; a conquest perhaps of the greatest impor-
tance that is to be met with in the British annals,
whether we consider the prodigious extent of coun-
try we are hereby made masters of, the vast addition
it must make to trade and navigation, or the security
it must afford to the northern provinces of America,
particularly those flourishing ones of New England
and New York, the irretrievable loss France sustains
hereby, and the importance it must give the British
crown among the several states of Europe: all this,
I say, duly considered, will perhaps in its conse-
quences render the year 1760 more glorious than
any preceding.

And to this acquisition had we during the late
war either by conquest or treaty added the fertile
and extensive country of Louisiana, we should have
been possessed of perhaps the most valuable terri-
tory upon the face of die globe, attended with more
real advantages than the so much boasted mines of
Mexico and Peru, and would have for ever deprived
the French, those treacherous rivals of Britain's
glory, of an opportunity of acting hereafter the same
perfidious parts they have already so often repeated.
On the 9th Gen. Amherst informed me of his
intention of sending me to Detroit, and on the 12th
in the morning, when I waited upon him again, I
received the following orders:

By his Excellency Jeffery Amherst, Esq; Major
General and Commander in Chief of all his
Majesty's forces in North America, 8bc.8cc.8cc.

[143]

To Major Rogers, commanding his Majesty'&to be
pendent companies of Rangers. T er-

You will, upon receipt hereof, with Capt. Wake's
and Capt. Hazen's companies of Rangers under
your command, proceed in whaleboats from hence
to Fort William Augustus, taking along with you
one Joseph Poupao, alias La Fleur, an inhabitant
of Detroit, and Lieut. Brehme, Assistant Engineer.
From Fort William Augustus you will continue
your voyage by the north shore to Niagara, where
you will land your whaleboats, and transport them
across the carrying place into Lake Erie, applying
to Major Walters, or the officer commanding at
Niagara, for any assistance you may want on that
or any other occasion, requesting of him at the same
time to deliver up to you Monsieur Gamelin, who
was made prisoner at the reduction of said fort and
has continued there ever since, in order to conduct
him, with the above-mentioned Poupao, to their
habitations at Detroit where, upon taking the oath
of allegiance to his most sacred Majesty whose sub-
jects they are become by the capitulation of the 8th
instant, they shall be protected in the peacabte and
quiet possession of their properties, and, so long as
they behave as becometh good and faithful subjects,
shall partake of all the other privileges and immuni-
ties granted unto them by the said capitulation.

With these, and the detachment under your com-
mand, you will proceed in your whaleboats across
Lake Erie to Presqu* Isle, where upon your arrival

you will make known the orders I have given to
the officer commanding that post; and you will leave

said whaleboats and party, taking only a small de-

[144]

tachment of your party, and marching by land, to
join Brigadier General Monckton wherever he may
be.

Upon your arrival with him, you will deliver into
his hands the dispatches you shall herewith receive
for him, and follow and obey such orders as he shall
give you for the relief of the garrisons of the French
posts at Detroit, Michilimackinac, or any others in
that district, for gathering in the arms of the in-
habitants thereof, and for administering to them the
oath of allegiance already mentioned; when you will
likewise administer, or see administered, the same to
the before mentioned Gamelin and Poupao; and
when this is done, and that you have reconnoitred
and explored the country as much as you can, with-
out losing time unnecessarily, you are to bring away
the French troops and arms to such place as you
shall be directed by Gen. Monckton.

And when the whole of this service is completed,
you will march back your detachment to Presqu'
Isle, or Niagara, according to the orders you receive
from Brigadier Monckton, where you will embark
the whole, and in like manner as before transport
your whaleboats across the carrying place into Lake
Ontario, where you will deliver over your whaleboats
into the care of the commanding officer, marching
your detachment by land to Albany, or wherever I
may be, to receive what further orders I may have
to give you.

Given under my hand, at the headquarters in the
camp of Montreal, 12th Sept. 1760.

Jeff. Amkerst.
By fr*y Excellency's command,

J.Appy.

[145]

An additional order was given, which was to be
shown only to the commanding officers of the differ-
ent posts I might touch at, the expedition being in-
tended to be kept a profound secret for fear the
march should be impeded by the enemy Indians,
through whose country I was obliged to march.

This order was as follows, viz.

Major Walters, or the officer commanding at
Niagara, will judge whether or not there is provision
sufficient at Presqu' Isle; and Major Rogers will
accordingly take provisions from Niagara. Eight days
provision will take him from Montreal to Fort Wil-
liam Augustus; there he will apply to the command-
ing officer for a sufficient quantity to proceed to
Niagara. Major Rogers knows where he is going and
the provisions he will want; some should be in store
likewise at Presqu' Isle for the party Brigadier Gen-
eral Monckton will send.

Jeff. Amhtrst.

Montreal I2th Sept. 1760.

In pursuance of these orders I embarked at Mon-
treal the 13th Sept. 1760 (with Captain Brewer, Cap-
tain Waite, Lieutenant Brheme, Assistant Engineer,
Lieut. Davis of the royal train of artillery, and two
hundred Rangers) about noon in fifteen whaleboats;
and that night we encamped at Lachine; next morn-
ing we reached Isle Laprairie and took a view of the
two Indian settlements at Caughnawaga and Cones-
toga.

On the 16th we got up to an island in Lake St.
Francis, and the next night encamped on the western

[146]

shore at the lower end of the upper rifts. We as-
cended these rifts the day following, and continued
all night on the north shore opposite a number of
islands.

In the evening of the 19th we came to the Isle La
Galette, and spent the 20th in repairing our whale-
boats which had received some damage in ascending
the rifts.

This morning I sent off ten side Rangers to
Albany by the way of Oswego recommending them
to the care of Col. Fitch, commanding at Oswego,
who was to give them suitable directions.

We left Isle La Galette on the 21st; about twelve
o'clock, the wind being unfavourable, we passed
Oswegatchi, and encamped but three miles above it
on the northern shore.

On the 22d we continued our course up the river,
the wind blowing fresh at south, and halted in the
evening at the narrow passes near the islands; but,
upon the wind's abating at midnight, we embarked
and rowed the remainder of that night, and the
whole day following; till we came to the place where
formerly stood the old Fort of Frontenac, where we
found some Indian hunters from Oswegatchi. We
were detained here all the next day by the tempestu-
ousness of the weather, which was very windy, at-
tended with snow and rain; we however improved
the time in taking a plan of the old fort, situated at
the bottom of a fine safe harbour.

There were about five hundred acres of cleared
ground about it, which tho f covered with clover
seemed bad and rocky and interspersed with some
pine trees. The Indians here seemed to be well
pleased with the news we brought them of the sur-

[147]

render of all Canada, and supplied us with great
plenty of venison and wild fowl.

We left this place the 25th, about ten in the morn-
ing, steering a south course two miles, then west six
miles, which brought us to the mouth of a river
thirty feet wide; then south four miles, where we
halted to refresh the party.

About four in the afternoon we rowed for a moun-
tain bearing south-west, which we did not come up
to till some time in the night, and found it to be a
steep rock about one hundred feet high. It now
grew foggy, and mistaking our way about six miles,
we rowed all night, and till 8 o'clock next morning,
before we put ashore; which we then did on a point,
where we breakfasted, and then proceeded on our
voyage, rowing till 8 o'clock at night, (being about
one hundred miles, as we imagined, from Frontenac)
we landed. This evening we passed two small islands
at the end of a point extending far into the lake; the
darkness and fog prevented us from taking such a
survey of them as to be able to give a particular de-
scription of them.

The 27th of September, being very windy, we
spent the time in deer hunting, there being great
plenty of them there, tho' the land is rocky, the
timber bad, chiefly hemlock and pine; and I believe
it is generally so on the north side of Lake Ontario.

We embarked very early on the 28th, steering
south-west, leaving a large bay on the right, about
twenty miles wide, the western side of which termi-
nates in a point and a small island; having passed
both, about fifteen miles on a course west by south,
we entered the chops of a river called by the Indians
the Grace of Man; there we encamped and found

[148]

about 50 Mississauga Indians fishing for salmon. At
our first appearance they ran down, both men and
boys, to the edge of the lake, and continued firing
their pieces, to express their joy at the sight of the
English colours, till such time as we had landed.

They presented me with a deer just killed and
split in halves, with the skin on but the bowels taken
out, which with them is a most elegant and polite
present and significant of the greatest respect. I told
them of the success of their English brethren against
their fathers the French; at which they either were,
or pretended to be, very well pleased.

Some of us fished with them in the evening, being
invited by them, and filled a bark canoe with salmon
in about half an hour. Their method of catching the
fish is very extraordinary. One person holds a lighted
pine torch while a second strikes the fish with a
spear. This is the season in which the salmon spawn
in these parts contrary to what they do in any other
place I ever knew them before.

I found the soil near this river very good and level
The timber is chiefly oak and maple or the sugar
tree.

At seven o'clock the next morning we took our
departure from this river, the wind being ahead.
About fifteen miles further, on a west-south-west
course, we put into another river, called the Life of
Man. The Mississauga who were hunting here,
about thirty in number, paid us the same compli-
ments with those we just before received from then-
countrymen, and instead of a deer split up a young
bear, and presented me with it Plenty of fish was
caught here also. The land continued good and level

[149]

the soil of a blackish colour, and the banks of the
lake were low.

The wind being fair the 30th, we embarked at the
first dawn of day, and with the assistance of sails
and oars made great way on a south-west course, and
in the evening reached the river Toronto^ having
run seventy miles. Many points extending far into
the lake occasioned a frequent alteration of our
course. We passed a bank of twenty miles in length,
but the land behind it seemed to be level, well
timbered with large oaks, hickories, maples, and
some poplars. No mountains appeared in sight.
There was a track of about 300 acres of cleared
ground round the place where formerly the French
had a fort that was called Fort Toronto. The soil
here is principally clay. The deer are extremely
plentiful in this country. Some Indians were hunt-
ing at the mouth of the river, who run into the
woods at our approach, very much frightened. They
came in however in the morning, and testified their
joy at the news of our success against the French.
They told us "that we could easily accomplish our
"journey from thence to Detroit in eight days: that
"when the French traded at that place, the Indians
"used to come with their poultry from Midiilimadu-
"nac down the river Toronto: that the portage was
"but twenty miles from that to a river falling into
"Lake Huron, which had some falls but none very
"considerable." They added that there was a carrying
place of fifteen miles from some westerly part of
Lake Erie, to a river running without any foils thro'
several Indian towns into Lake St. Glair.

I think Toronto a most convenient place for a

[150]

factory, and that from thence we may very easily
settle the north side of Lake Erie.

We left Toronto the 1st of October steering south
right across the west end of Lake Ontario. At dark
we arrived at the south shore, five miles west of
Fort Niagara, some of our boats being now become
exceeding leaky and dangerous.

This morning, before we set out, I directed the
following order of march:

"The boats in a line. If the wind rose high, the
"red flag hoisted and the boats to crowd nearer that
"they might be ready to give mutual assistance in
"case of a leak or other accident;" by which means
we saved the crew and arms of the boat commanded
by Lieut. M'Cormack, which sprang a leak and sunk,
losing nothing except their packs.

We halted all the next day at Niagara, and pro-
vided ourselves with blankets, coats, shirts, shoes,
magazines, &c.

I received from the commanding officer eighty
barrels of provisions, and changed two whaleboats
for as many bateaux, which proved leaky.

In the evening some of my party proceeded with
the provisions to the falls, and in the morning
marched the rest there, and began the portage of
the provisions and boats. Messrs. Brheme and Davis
took a survey of the great cataract of Niagara.

As the winter season was now advancing very fast
in this country, and I had orders to join General
Monckton from Presqu' Isle, wherever he might be,
to receive his directions, I set out this evening, the
5th of October, in a bark canoe with Lieutenants
Brheme and Holmes and eight Rangers, leaving the
command of my party to Capt. Brewer with instruo

[151]

dons to follow to Presqu' Isle, and encamped eight
miles up the stream issuing out of Lake Erie. The
land appeared to be good on both sides the river.

Next morning embarked early, and steered a
south-west course. About noon opened Lake Erie,
and leaving a bay to the left we airived by sunset
at the southern shore of the lake; we then steered
west till eight o'clock at night, and drew up our
boats on a sandy beach, forty miles distant from
where we embarked in the morning.

The wind was very fresh next day, which pre-
vented our setting out till 11 o'clock; so that we
made no further progress than about twenty-eight
miles on a west-south-west course. A little after
noon, on the 8th of October, we arrived at Presqu'
Isle, having kept a southerly course all the morning;
I tarried there till 3 o'clock, when (having sent
back my party to assist Capt. Brewer) Mr. Brheme,
Lieutenant Holmes and myself took leave of Colonel
Bouquet, who commanded at Presqu' Isle, and
with three other men, in a bark canoe, proceeded to
French Creek, and at night encamped on the road
halfway to Fort Le Boeuf. We got to this fort about
10 o'clock next day, and after three hours rest
launched our canoe into the river, and paddled down
about ten miles below the fort.

On the 10th we encamped at the second crossings
of the river, the land on both sides appeared to be
good all the way. The llth we readied the Mingo
Cabins, and the night of the 12th we lodged at
Venango; from thence went down the river Ohio;
and on the morning of the 17th I waited upon
Brigadier Monckton at Pittsburgh, and delivered him

[152]

General Amherst's dispatches, and my own instruc-
tions.

I left Pittsburgh the 20th, at the request of Gen-
eral Monckton, who promised to send his orders
after me to Presqu' Isle by Mr. Croghan, and to
forward Capt. Campbell immediately with a com-
pany of the Royal Americans; I got back to Presqu'
Isle the 30th of October, Captain Campbell arrived
the day after; Captain Brewer got there before us
with the Rangers from Niagara, having lost some
of the boats and part of the provisions.

We immediately began to repair the damaged
boats; and as there was an account that a vessel, ex-
pected with provisions from Niagara, was lost, I
dispatched Capt. Brewer by land to Detroit with a
drove of forty oxen supplied by Col. Bouquet. Capt.
Waite was about the same time sent back to Niagara
for more provisions, and ordered to cruise along the
north coast of Lake Erie, and halt about twenty
miles to the east of the strait between the Lakes
Huron and Erie till further orders. Brewer had a
batteau to ferry his party over the Creeks, two
horses, and Capt. Monter with twenty Indians, com-
posed of the Six Nations, Delawares and Shawanoes,
to protect him from the insults of the enemy Indians.

My order of march over from Presq' Isle was as
follows:

The boats to row two deep; first, Major Rogers 9
boat, abreast of him Capt. Croghan; Capt. Camp-
bell follows with his company, the Rangers next; and
lastly, Lieutenant Holmes, who commands the rear
guard, with his own boat, and that of Ensign Waite,
so as to be ready to assist any boat that may be in

[153]

distress. Boats in distress are to fire a gun, when Mr.
Holmes with the other boats under his command are
immediately to go to their relief, take them to the
shore, or give such other assistance as he thinks may
be best. When the wind blows hard, so that the
boats cannot keep their order, a red flag will be
hoisted in the Major's boat; then the boats are not
to mind their order but put after the flag as fast as
possible to the place of landing to which the flag-
boat will always be a guide.

It is recommended to the soldiers as well as officers
not to mind the waves of the lake; but when the surf
is high to stick to their oars, and the men at helm
to keep the boat quartering on the waves, and briskly
follow, then no mischief will happen by any storm
whatever. Ten of the best steersmen amongst the
Rangers are to attend Captain Campbell and com-
pany in his boats. It is likewise recommended to
the officers commanding in those boats to hearken to
the steersmen in a storm or bad weather in man-
aging their boats. At evening (if it is thought neces-
sary to row in the night time) , a blue flag will be
hoisted in the Major's boat, which is the signal for
the boats to dress and then proceed in the following
manner: the boats next the hindermost are to wait
for the two in the rear, the two third boats for the
second two; and so on to the boats leading ahead
to prevent separation which in the night would be
hazardous.

Mr. Brheme is not to mind the order of march
but to steer as is most convenient for him to make
his observations; he is however desired never to go
more than a league ahead of the detachment and is
to join them at landing or encamping.

[154]

On landing, the Regulars are to encamp in the
center, and Lieutenant Holmes' division on the
right wing with Mr. Croghan's people, Lieutenant
M'Cormick on the left wing with his division; Mr.
Jequipe to be always ready with his Mohegan In-
dians, which are the picket of the detachment, part
of which are always to encamp in the front of the
party; Capt. Campbell will mount a guard consist-
ing of one Subaltern, one Sergeant, and thirty pri-
vates, immediately on landing, for the security of his
own encampment and bateaux; Lieutenant Holmes'
division to keep a guard of one Sergeant and ten
Rangers on the right, and Lieutenant M'Cormick
the like number on the left, and likewise to act as
Adjutant to the detachment, and the orderly drum
to attend him to be at the Sergeant's call. The gen-
eral to beat when ordered by the Major, at which
time the whole party is to prepare for embarking,
the troops half an hour after, when all the guards
are to be called in, and the party embark immedi-
ately after.

There is to be no firing of guns in this detach-
ment without permission from the commanding
officer except when in distress on the lake. No man
to go without the sentries when in camp unless he
has orders so to do; great care to be taken of the
arms and the officers to review them daily. Captain
Campbell will order a drum to beat for the regu-
lation of his company when landed at any time
he thinks proper for parading his men, or reviewing
their arms, &c.

It is not doubted but due attention will be paid
to all orders given.

Mr. Croghan will at landing always attend the

[155]

Major for orders and to give such intelligence as he
may have had from the Indians throughout the day.

We left Presqu' Isle the 4th of November, kept a
western course, and by night had advanced twenty
miles.

The badness of the weather obliged us to lie by
all the next day; and as the wind continued very
high, we did not advance more than ten or twelve
miles the 6th on a course west-south-west.

We set out very early on the 7th, and came to the
mouth of Chogage River; here we met with a party
of Ottawa Indians just arrived from Detroit. We
informed them of our success in the total reduction
of Canada, and that we were going to bring off the
French garrison at Detroit who were included in
the capitulation. I held out a belt, and told them I
would take my brothers by the hand and carry them
to Detroit to see the truth of what I had said. They
retired, and held a council, and promised an answer
next morning. That evening we smoked the calumet,
or pipe of peace, all the officers and Indians smoking
by turns out of the same pipe. The peace thus con-
cluded, we went to rest, but kept good guards, a
little distrusting their sincerity.

The Indians gave their answer early in the morn-
ing, and said their young warriors should go with
me while the old ones stayed to hunt for their wives
and children.

I gave them ammunition at their request, and a
string of wampum in testimony of my approbation,
and charged them to send some of their sachems,
or chiefs, with the party who drove the oxen along
shore; and they promised to spread the news and
prevent any annoyance from their hunters.

[156]

We were detained here by unfavourable weather
till the 12th during which time the Indians held a
plentiful market in our camp of venison and turkeys.

From this place we steered one mile west, then a
mile south, then four miles west, then south-west
ten miles, then five miles west-and-by-south, then
south-west eight miles, then west-and-by-south seven
miles, then four miles west, and then south-west six
miles, which brought us to Elk River, as the Indians
call it, where we halted two days on account of bad
weather and contrary winds.

On the 15th we embarked, and kept the following
courses; west-south-west two miles, west-north-west
three miles, west-by-north one mile, west two miles;
here we passed the mouth of a river, and then steered
west one mile, west-by-south two miles, west-by-north
four miles, north-west three miles, west-north-west
two miles, west-by-north ten miles, where we en-
camped at the mouth of a river twenty-five yards
wide.

The weather did not permit us to depart till the
I8th, when our course was west-by-south six miles,
west-by-north four miles, west two miles; here we
found a river about fifteen yards over, then pro-
ceeded west half a mile, west-south-west six miles and
a half, west two miles and an half, north-west two
miles, where we encamped, and discovered a river
sixteen yards broad at the entrance.

We left this place the next day, steering north-
west four miles, north-north-west six miles, which
brought us to Sandusky Lake; we continued the
same course two miles, then north-north-east half a
mile, north-west a quarter of a mile, north the same
distance, north-west half a mile, north-by-east one

[157]

furlong, north-west-by-north one quarter of a mile,
north-west-by-west one mile, west-north-west one
mile, then west half a mile, where we encamped
near a small river on the east side.

From this place I detached Mr. Brheme with a
letter to Monsieur Bellestre, the French commandant
at Detroit, in these words:

To Capt. Bellestre, or the Officer commanding at

Detroit.
SIR,

That you may not be alarmed at the approach of
the English troops under my command, when they
come to Detroit, I send forward this by Lieut.
Brheme to acquaint you that I have Gen. Amherst's
orders to take possession of Detroit, and such other
posts as are in that district, which by capitulation
agreed to and signed by the Marquis de Vaudreuil
and his Excellency Major Gen. Amherst, the 8th of
September last, now belong to the King of Great
Britain.

I have with me the Marquis de Vaudreuil's letters
to you directed for your guidance on this occasion,
which letters I shall deliver you when I arrive at or
near your post, and shall encamp the troops I have
with me at some distance from the fort till you have
reasonable time to be made acquainted with the
Marquis de Vaudreufl's instructions and the capitu-
lation, a copy of which I have with me likewise. I
am,

Snt,

Your humble servant,

Robert Rogers.

[158]

The land on the south side of Lake Erie, from
Presqu'Isle, puts on a very fine appearance; the
country level, the timber tall and of the best sort,
such as oak, hickory and locust; and for game, both
for plenty and variety, perhaps exceeded by no part
of the world.

I followed Mr. Brheme on the 20th, and took a
course northwest four miles and an half, south-west
two, and west three, to the mouth of a river in
breadth 300 feet,

Here we found several Huron sachems, who told
me, "that a body of 400 Indian warriors was col-
" lected at the entrance into the great strait in order
"to obstruct our passage; and that Monsieur Bel-
" lestre had excited them to defend their country:
"that they were messengers to know my business,
"and whether the person I had sent forward had
"reported the truth that Canada was reduced/' I
confirmed this account, and that the fort at Detroit
was given up by the French Governor. I presented
them a large belt, and spoke to this effect:

Brothers,

With this belt I take you by the hand. You are
to go directly to your brothers assembled at the
mouth of the river and tell them to go to their
towns till I arrive at the fort. I shall call you there
as soon as Monsieur Bellestre is sent away, which
shall be in two days after my arrival. We will then
settle all matters. You live happily in your own
country. Your brothers have long desired to bring
this about. Tell your warriors to mind their fathers

[159]

(the French) no more, for they are all prisoners to
your brothers (the English) , who pitied them and
left them their houses and goods on their swearing
by the Great One who made the world to become
as Englishmen forever. They are now your brothers;
if you abuse them, you affront me, unless they be-
have ill. Tell this to your brothers the Indians.
What I say is truth. When we meet at Detroit I
will convince you it is all true.

These sachems set out in good temper the next
morning being the 21st; but as the wind was very
high, we did not move from this place.

On the 22d we encamped on a beach, after having
steered that day north-west six miles, north-north-
west, to a river of the breadth of twenty yards, then
north-west-by-west two miles, west-north-west one,
west four, and west-north-west five; it was with great
difficulty we could procure any fuel here, the west
side of the Lake Erie abounding with swamps.

We rowed ten miles the next day, on a 'course
north-west and by west, to Point Cedar, and then
formed a camp; here we met some of the Indian
messengers to whom we had spoken two days be-
fore: they told us their warriors were gone up to
Monsieur fiellestre who, they said, is a strong man
and intends to fight you; a sachem of Ottawas
was amongst them. All their Indians set out with
us. The 24th we went north-west and by north
ten miles, and fourteen miks north-east, to a long
point; this night sixty of the Indian party came
to our camp, who congratulated us on our arrival
in their country, and offered themselves as an escort

[160]

to Detroit, from whence they came the day before.
They informed me that Mr. Brheme and his party
were confined; and that Monsieur Bellestre had set
up an high flag-staff with a wooden effigy of a man's
head on the top and upon that a crow; that the
crow was to represent himself, the man's head mine,
and the meaning of the whole that he would scratch
out my brains. This artifice however had no effect;
for the Indians told him (as they said) that the
reverse would be the true explanation of the sign.

After we had proceeded six miles north-east, we
halted at the request of the Indians, who desired
me to call in the chief Captains of the party at the
strait's mouth. I did so, and spent the 26th at the
same place in concilating their savage minds to
peace and friendship.

The morning of the 27th, Monsieur Bellestre sent
me the following letter by Monsier Baby.

MONSIEUR,

J'ai re$u la lettre que vous m'avez Icrite par un
de vos Officiers; comme je n'ai point d'interprete,
je ne puis faire la reponse amplement.

L'Officier qui m'a remise la votre, me fait savoir
qu'il <toit detach^ afin de m'anoncer votre aniv6,
pour prendre possession de cette garison, selon la
capitulation fait en Canada, que vous avez con-
joimement avec un lettre de Monsieur de Vaudreuil
a mon addresse, Je vous prie, Monsieur, d'arr&ter
vos troupes a I'entrance de la riviere, jusque & ce
que vous m*envoys la capitulation & la lettre de
Monseigneur le Marquis de Vaudreuil, afin de pou-
voir y conf ormer.

[161]

Je suis bien surpris qu'on ne m'a pas envoy un
Officier Francois avec vous, selon la cofitume.

J'ai rhonneur d'fitre, &c. &c.

Bellestre.
A Monsieur Monsieur Rogers,

Major, & commandant le

detachment Anglois.

In English thus.
SIR,

I received the letter you wrote me by one of your
Officers; but, as I have no interpreter, cannot fully
answer it.

The Officer that delivered me yours gives me to
understand that he was sent to give me notice of
your arrival to take possession of this garrison ac-
cording to the capitulation made in Canada; that
you have likewise a letter from Mons. Vaudreuil
directed to me. I beg, Sir, you'll halt your troops
at the entrance of the river till you send me the
capitulation and the Marquis de Vaudreuil's letter
that I may act in conformity thereto.

I am surprised there is no French Officer sent to
me along with you as is the custom cm such occa-
sions. I have the honour to be, fcc. fee,

Bellestrc.
To Mr. Rogers, Major and

Commander of the

English detachment.

Shortly after a French party under Captain Bur-
rager beat a parley on the west-shore; I sent Mr.

[162]

M'Cormick to know his business, who returned with
the Officer and the following letter:

Detroit, le 25me Novembre, 1760.
MONSIEUR,

Je vous ai dja marqu par Monsieur Burrager
les raisons pourquoi je ne puis rpondre en detail
a la lettre qui m'a 6t& remise le 22me du courant,
par rOfficier que vous m'avez detache.

J'ignore les raisons pourquoi il n'a pas voulu re-
tourner aupres de vous. J'ai envoy* mon interprete
Huron chez cette nation, que Ton me dit tre attrou-
p sur le chemin de les contenir, ne sa^hant positive-
meat si c'est vous ou & nous qu'ils en veuillent,
& pour leur dire de ma part, qu'ils ayent a se tenir
tranquilement; que je savois ce que je devois mon
General, Se que de lorsque I'acte de la capitulation
seroit regte, j'&ois obligifi d'oWir. Le dit interprete
a ordre de vous attendre, & de vous remettre la pre-
sent. Ne soyez point surpris, Monsieur, si sur le
long de la odte vous trouverez nos habitans sur
leur gaxde; on leur a annonc qu'il y avoit beau-
coup de nations it votre suite, k qui on avois promis
le pillage, & que les dites nations ^toient mme de-
termin^es a vous le demander; je leur ai permis de
regarder, c'est pour vdtre conservation & suret< ainsi
que pour la ndtre, en cas que les dites nations deve-
noient i faire les insolents, vous seal ne seriez peut-
fitre pas dans les circonstances presentes en 6ta& de
les reduire. Je me flatte, Monsieur, que si t6t que
la present vour sera parvenue, vous voudriez bien
m'envoyer par quelqu'un de vos Messieurs, 8c la ca-

[163]

pitulation fe la lettre de Monsieur Vaudreuzl. J'ai
1'honneur d'fitre,
MONSIEUR,
Votre tres-humble & ob&ssant serviteur,

Pign. Bettestre.

A Monsieur Monsieur Rogers,
Major, commandant le
detachment Anglois au bas
de la riviere.

In English thus:

Detroit, 25th Nov. 1760.
SIR,

I have already by Mr. Burrager acquainted you
with the reasons why I could not answer particularly
the letter which was delivered me the 22d instant
by the Officer you sent to me.

I am entirely unacquainted with the reasons of
his not returning to you. I sent my Huron inter-
preter to that nation, and told him to stop them,
should they be on the road, not knowing positively
whether they were inclined to favour you or us,
and to tell them from me they should behave peace-
ably; that I knew what I owed to my General, and
that when the capitulation should be settled I was
obliged to obey. The said interpreter has orders to
wait on you and deliver you this.

Be not surprised, Sir, if along the coast you find
the inhabitants upon their guard; it was told them
you had several Indian nations with you, to whom
you had promised permission to plunder, nay, that

[164]

they were even resolved to force you to it. I have
therefore allowed the said inhabitants to take to
their arms, as it is for your safety and preservation
as well as ours; for should these Indians become
insolent, you may not perhaps in your present situa-
tion be able to subdue them alone.

I flatter myself, Sir, that as soon as that shall
come to hand you will send me by some of the
Gentlemen you have with you both the capitulation
and Monsieur Vaudreuil's letter. I have the honour
to be,
SIR,

Your very humble and obedient servant,

Pign. Bellestre,
To Major Rogers.

We encamped the next day five miles up the river
having rowed against the wind; and on the 29th I
dispatched Captain Campbell, with Messieurs Bur-
rager and Baby, and their parties, with this letter.

SIR,

I acknowledge the receipt of your two letters both
of which were delivered to me yesterday. Mr. Brheme
has not yet returned. The enclosed letter from the
Marquis de Vaudreuil will inform you of the sur-
render of all Canada to the King of Great Britain,
and of the great indulgence granted to the inhabi-
tants; as also of the terms granted to the troops
of his Most Christian Majesty. Captain Campbell,
whom I have sent forward wirth this letter, will
show you the capitulation. I desire you will not
detain him, as I am determined, agreeable to my

[165]

instructions from General Amherst, speedily to re-
lieve your post. I shall stop the troops I have with
me at the hither end of the town till four o'clock,
by which time I expect your answer; your inhabitants
under arms will not surprise me, as yet I have seen
no other in that position but savages waiting for my
orders. I can assure you, Sjr, the inhabitants of De-
troit shall not be molested, they and you complying
with the capitulation, but be protected in the quiet
and peaceable possession of their estates; neither
shall they be pillaged by my Indians, nor by your's
that have joined me.

I am, Sec,

R. Rogers.
To Capt. Bellestre,
commanding at Detroit.

I landed at half a mile short of the fort, and front-
ing it, where I drew up my detachment on a field
of grass. Here GapL Campbell joined me, and with
him came a French officer to inform me that be
bore Monsieur Bellestre compliments, signifying he
was under my command. From hence I sent Lieu-
tenants Leslie and M'Cormack, with thirty-six Royal
Americans, to take possession of the fort. The French
garrison laid down their arms, English colours were
hoisted, and the French taken down, at which about
700 Indians gave a shout, merrily exulting in their
prediction being verified, that the crow represented
the English.

They seemed amazed at the submissive salutations
of the inhabitants, expressed their satisfaction at
our generosity in not putting them to death, and
said they would always for the future fight for a

[166]

nation thus favoured by Him that made the world.

I went into the fort, received a plan of it with
a list of t]he stores from the commanding officer and
by noon of the 1st of December we had collected
the militia, disarmed them, and to them also ad-
ministered the oaths of allegiance.

The interval from this time to the 9th was spent
in preparing to execute some measures that ap-
peared to be necessary to the service we were upon.
I put Monsieur Bellestre and the other prisoners
under the care of Lieut. Holmes and thirty Rangers
to be carried to Philadelphia; and ordered Capt.
Campbell and his company to keep possession of
the fort. Lieut Butler and Ensign Waite were sent
with a detached party of twenty men to bring the
French Troops from the forts Miami and Outanon.
I ordered that, if possible, a party should subsist
at the former this winter and give the earliest notice
at Detroit of the enemy's motions in the country
of the Illinois. I sent Mr. M'Gee, with a French
officer, for the French troops at the Shawanoes town
on the Ohio. And as provisions were scarce, directed
Capt. Brewer to repair with the greatest part of the
Rangers to Niagara, detaining Lieut. M'Cormack
with thirty-seven more to go with me to Michili-
mackinac

I made a treaty with the several tribes of Indians
living in the neighbouring country; and having di-
rected Capt. Waite, just arrived from Niagara, to
return again thither immediately, I set out for Lake
Huron, and on the night of the 10th encamped at
the north end of the little Lake St. Glair, and the
next evening on the west side of the strait at the en-
trance of a considerable river where many Indians

[167]

were hunting. We opened Lake Huron the day
following, and saw many Indian hunters on both
sides of the mouth of the straits. We coasted along
the west shores of the Lake, about twenty miles
north-and-by-west, the next day being the 13th forty,
and the 15th thirty-eight miles, passing the cakes
of ice with much difficulty. We could not advance
all the 16th, a heavy north-wind setting the cakes
of ice on the south shore in such quantities that we
could find no passage between them. 1 consulted the
Indians about a journey to Michilimackinac across
by land; but they declared it impracticable at this
season without snowshoes and to our great mortifi-
cation we were obliged to return to Detroit; the ice
obstructing us so much that, with the greatest dili-
gence and fatigue, we did not arrive there till
the 21st.

I delivered the ammunition to Capt. Campbell,
and on the 23d set out for Pittsburg, marching along
the west end of Lake Erie till the 2d of January
1761, when we arrived at Lake Sandusky.

I have a very good opinion of the soil from De-
troit to this place; it is timbered principally with
white and black oaks, hickory, locusts, and maple.
We found wild apples along the west end of Lake
Erie, some rich savannahs of several miles extent
without a tree but clothed with jointed grass near
six feet high which, rotting there every year, adds
to the fertility of the soiL The length of Sandusky
is about fifteen miles from east to west and about
six miles across it. We came to a town of the Wyandot
Indians, where we halted to refresh.

On January 3d, south-east-by-east three miles, east-
by-south one mile and a half, south-east a mile

[168]

through a meadow, crossed a small creek about six
yards wide, running east, traveled south-east-by-east
one mile, passed thro* Indian houses, south-east three
quarters of a mile, and came to a small Indian town
of about ten houses. There is a remarkable fine
spring at this place, rising out of the side of a small
hill with such force that it boils above the ground
in a column three feet high. I imagine it discharges
ten hogsheads of water in a minute. From this town
our course was south-south-east three miles, south
two miles, crossed a brook about five yards wide,
running east-south-east, travelled south one mile,
crossed a brook about four yards wide, running east-
south-east, travelled south -south -east two miles,
crossed a brook about eight yards wide, This day
we killed plenty of deer and turkeys on our march,
and encamped.

On the 4th we travelled south-south-east one mile,
and came to a river about twenty-five yards wide,
crossed the river, where are two Indian houses, from
thence south-by-east one mile, south-south-east one
mile and a half, south-east two miles, south-south-
east one mile, and came to an Indian house, where
there was a family of Wyandots hunting, from thence
south by east a quarter of a mile, south five miles,
came to the river we crossed this morning; the course
of the river here is west-north-west. This day killed
several deer and other game, and encamped.

On the 5th travelled south-south-west half a mile,
south one mile, south-south-west three quarters of
a mile, south half a mile, crossed two small brooks
running east, went a south-south-west course half a
mile, south half a mile, south-east half a mile, south

[169]

two miles, south-east one mile, south half a mile,
crossed a brook running east-by-north, travelled
south-by-east half a mile, south-south-east two miles,
south-east three quarters of a mile, south-south-east
one mile, and came to Muskingum Creek about eight
yards wide, crossed the creek, and encamped thirty
yards from it. This day killed deer and turkeys in
our march.

On the 6th we travelled about fourteen or fifteen
miles, our general course being about east-south-
east, killed plenty of game, and encamped by a very
fine spring.

The 7th our general course about south-east, trav-
elled about six miles, and crossed Muskingum Creek,
running south, about twenty yards wide. There is
an Indian town about twenty yards from the creek
on the east-side, which is called the Mingo Cabins.
There were but two or three Indians in the place,
the rest were hunting. These Indians have plenty
of cows, horses, hogs, fee.

The 8th, halted at this town to mend our moc-
casins, and kill deer, the provisions I brought from
Detroit being entirely expended. I went ahunting
with ten of the Rangers, and by ten o'clock got more
venison than we had occasion for.

On the 9th travelled about twelve miles, our
general course being about south-east, and encamped
by the side of a long meadow where thane were a
number of Indians hunting.

The 10th, about the same course, we travelled
eleven miles, and encamped, having killed in our
march this day three bears and two elks.
The llth, continuing near the same course, we

[170]

travelled thirteen miles and encamped, where were
a number of Wyandot and Six Nation Indians
hunting.

The 12th, travelled six miles, bearing rather more
to the east, and encamped. This evening we killed
several beaver.

The 13th, travelled about north-east six miles, and
came to the Delaware's town, called Beaver Town.
This Indian town stands on good land on the west
side of the Muskingum River; and opposite to the
town, on the east side, is a fine river which discharges
itself into it. The latter is about thirty yards wide
and the Muskingum about forty; so that when they
both join, they make a very fine stream with a swift
current running to the south-west. There are about
3000 acres of cleared ground round this place. The
number of warriors in this town is about 180. All
the way from the Lake Sandusky I found level land
and a good country. No pine trees of any sort; the
timber is white, black and yellow oak, black and
white walnut, cypress, chesnut, and locust trees. At
this town I staid till the 16th in the morning to
refresh my party, and procure some corn of the In-
dians to boil with our venison.

On the 16th we marched nearly an east course
about nine miles, and encamped by the side of a
small river.

On the 17th kept much the same course, crossing
several rivulets and creeks. We travelled about twenty
miles, and encamped by the side of a small river.

On the "l 8th we travelled about sixteen miles an
easterly course, and encamped by a brook.

The 19th, about the same general course, we crossed
two considerable streams of water and some large

[171]

hills timbered with chestnut and oak, and having
travelled about twenty miles we encamped by the
side of a small river, at which place were a number
of Delawares hunting.

On the 20th, keeping still an easterly course, and
having much the same travelling as the day before,
we advanced on our journey about nineteen miles,
which brought us to Beaver Creek, where are two
or three Indian houses on the west side of the creek,
and in sight of the Ohio.

Bad weather prevented our journeying on the
21th, but the next day we prosecuted our march.
Having crossed the creek, we travelled twenty miles,
nearly south-east, and encamped with a party of
Indian hunters.

On the 23d we came again to the Ohio, opposite to
Fort Pitt; from whence I ordered Lieut. M'Connxck
to march the party across the country to Albany, and,
after tarrying there till the 26th, I came the common
road to Philadelphia, from thence to New York,
where, after this long; fatiguing tour, I arrived
February 14, 1761.

FINIS.

EDITOR'S NOTE

I have inserted an editorial hand in as light a manner
as possible consistent with the desire to present a mod-
ern yet faithful republication of the J0unkzb.The changes
from the original are almost entirely those of dropping
commas that were in superabundance, modernizing spell-
ing, correcting obvious errors, and where possible chang-
ing the spelling of proper names and places to that more
generally acceptable. A few obsolete words have been
changed as follows: **desart" has been replaced with
"wilderness" on page iv; "desarts" has been replaced
with **fbrests" on pages iv and 11; "trepan" has been re-
placed with "entrap" on page 60; "rencontre* has been
replaced with "combat" on page 66. John R Qmeo's
excellent biography, Robert Rogers of ike Ranger*, Ox-
ford University Press, 19S9, was continuously consulted.

The colloquial style that marks most of the Jottrmd* IB
consistent with its times. For those who would Kke to
better appreciate its flavor, it might be well to read the
Journals aloud. Then the printed page springs alive with
warmth, vitality and spirit.

Elias S. Wflenfc

THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE SERIES

AE 1 THE NARRATIVE OF COLONEL ETHAN ALLEN. Revo-
lutionary War experiences of the "Hero of Fort
Tlconderoga" and The Green Mountain Boys."
Introduction by Brooke Kindle.

AE 2 JOHN WOOLMAN'S JOURNAL and A PLEA FOR THE
POOR. The spiritual autobiography of the great
Colonial Quaker. Introduction by Frederick B.
Tolles.

AE 3 THE LIFE OF MRS. MARY JEMISON by JamCS E.

Seaver. The famous Indian captivity narrative of
the "White Woman of the Genesee." Introduction
by Allen W. Trelease.

AE 4 BROOK FARM by Lindsay Swift America's most un-
usual experiment in establishing the ideal society
during the Transcendentalist I840's. Introduction
by Joseph SdbifEman.

AE 5 FOUR VOYAGES TO THE NEW WORLD by Christopher
Columbus. Selected letters and documents trans-
lated and edited by R. H. Major. Introduction by
JohnE. Fagg.

AE 6 JOURNALS OF MAJOR ROBERT ROGERS. Frontier cam-
paining during the French and Indian Wars by
the organizer of "Rogers' Rangers." Introduction
by Howard H. Pedkham.

AE 7 HARRIET TUBMAN, THE MOSES OF HER PEOPLE by

Sarah Bradford. The heroic life of a former slave's
struggle for her people. Introduction by Butler A.
Jones.

AE 8 RECOLLECTIONS OF THE JERSEY PRISON SHIP by

Albert Greene. The "Andersonvffle" of the Revolu-
tionary War. Introduction by Lawrence H. Leder.

AE 9 A NEW ENGLAND GIRLHOOD by Lucy Larcom. A
classic memoir of life in pre-Civil War America.
Introduction by Charles T. Davis.

AE 10 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES by William Alfred Hinds.
First hand account of the 19th century Utopias-
Economy, Amana, Shakers, etc. Introduction by
Jftpary JJamf ord Farkes.